Letter to legislators About health care issues

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Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Web Lesson

Contacting Your Congressperson

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Reading Assignment

Before you begin this Web Lesson, make sure you have read Chapter 17, The Politically Active Nurse, in your text.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Recall the Tips for Talking with Legislators

Your first step is to decide on an issue for discussion.
What do you feel passionate about that needs to be changed in statute or regulation?
Decide on an issue that you want to change and can defend to your representative.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

HINT

Review the background information and recent actions of the ANA at the Government Affairs section of their Web site at http://www.nursingworld.org.
You may wish to select one of the major health-care issues identified as “hot issues” in Washington by ANA.
Investigate further views provided by other organizational Web sites focused on government affairs, such as
AACN: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/index.htm
NLN: http://www.nln.org/governmentaffairs/index.htm
Be thinking of your issue!

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Your Legislators

Next, identify your legislators and their contact information.

U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate

If you want to locate state representatives, go to your state’s official site or use a search engine and enter [your state].gov and hit Enter.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Get to Know Your Legislators

Their backgrounds

Special interests or initiatives

Voting records

Committee assignments

Involvement with health policy issues

Are they a nurses, or do they have health-care backgrounds?

Go back to the House or Senate sites and go to your legislators’ home pages to find out some of this information.

You can also find information at the ANA Government Affairs site. Check it out at Nursingworld.org.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Now You Need to Prepare Your Position

Investigate both sides of the issue.

Stay focused on the facts.

Relate your position to your practice.

Now try to develop this into a well-constructed letter to seek the support of one of your legislators.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Develop a List of Talking Points

Include a brief list of talking points for the legislator in your letter.

If you are granted an interview, prepare your personal talking points to assist you during your discussion.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Additional Web Sites to Assist with Your Letter

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Before You Send Your Letter

Have you proofread your letter to ensure correct grammar and spelling?

Have you kept to the facts, avoiding rambling and extraneous information?

Have you had a friend/significant other and colleague review it? It helps if someone else reads the letter.
Someone familiar with the issue
Someone unfamiliar, to see if you have “made” your case

Do you think that you will have the attention of your legislator?

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Also Before You Send Your Letter

Have you prepared your letter to the appropriate legislator? Recall your initial investigation of

His/her background
Special interests or initiatives
Voting record
Committee assignments
Involvement with health policy issues

Have you made your case?

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Course Assignment

Now, have your professor review what you have prepared. Submit your course to the appropriate Dropbox

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

How Are You Going to Send Your Letter?

E-mail?
Fax?
Postal Service?
Why, and what is best?
Read the recommendations from the House of Representatives and the Senate.
What hints did you get from the congressperson’s home page or Web site?

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

If meeting with the legislator or an aide in person, remember these tips

Request a meeting of at least 15 to 30 minutes. If the legislator is not available, meet with the legislative aide/staff member knowledgeable on the issue.

Practice your presentation to gain comfort and to anticipate questions.

Be on time, and be professional.

Introduce yourself and thank the legislator/aide for his/her time and interest.

Be prepared to explain what you do as a nurse, your philosophy of care, and the impact of pending legislation on health care and the legislator’s constituents.

Use concise and explicit examples from your practice to illustrate your position.

Be prepared to offer additional information or solutions, but stick to the facts.

If the legislator or aide indicates support for your position, ask what you can do to reach other legislators or sponsors.

Provide an opportunity to answer any questions and offer additional information. Ask whether you may leave a copy of your position paper and talking points.

Send a follow-up thank-you note for the meeting, and restate your position.

You may even want to follow your interview with a well-worded letter on your position to the editor of the local newspaper. But remember to send a copy to your legislator so he/she can get mileage with local constituents.

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

Next Steps?

What are the next steps you can take to garner support for your issue?

Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing, 5th Edition

And now, you have demonstrated the political imperative

Congratulations!