Nurses at the Table: Reflecting Back on the Policy Summit

By Kanaka Sathasivan, MPH

The 2021 Virtual Policy Summit on Friday, June 11 proved to be an engaging, informative and inspirational educational offering for nurses. The vision of this year’s Policy Summit was to motivate any nurse ― no matter their time availability, abilities, personality or skills ― to get involved with policy in their own way.

The event kicked off with a stellar keynote by Lisa Summers, DrPH, MSN, FACNM, who has over 40 years’ experience with nursing and policy. Remembering her years in school, she noted a generational difference in that nursing and politics were previously treated as separate issues, but students today do not have to be convinced that it is necessary to engage in policy.

Going through her 10 tips for advocacy, Summers inspired other nurses to share their thoughts and experiences, such as being a nurse in a rural setting or being impatient and wanting to see change happen quickly. Summers stressed the value of incremental change, and she also suggested that, when taking the first steps into policy work, nurses take someone along to ease their anxiety and try to balance learning from what others have done with thinking of new tactics.

Attendee Christine Roberts suggested a new TNA nursing slogan could be “Think out. Reach out. Move out. Speak out. Act out...side the box.”

Different Paths to Advocacy

The next three sessions covered different ways nurses could get involved, from how to spread your message to running for office to working from the grassroots. Lisa Boss, PHD, RN, CNS, CEN, CNE, Sola Ahmed Oyewuwo, MBA, MSN, RN, and Kanaka Sathasivan, MPH, walked through the basics of getting started on social media, with podcasting or with talking to the press.

Attendee Jim Allard boiled the session down to how it was “important to create your ‘brand’ as you engage in social media or politicians.” Several attendees also shared their experiences with their employers not allowing them to speak or penalizing nurses who posted on social media or talked to reporters. Keynote speaker Summers suggested that nurses should start by working with their employer’s communications department: “Can you develop a relationship with them so that when they get inquiries from news media, they are primed to turn to a nurse?”

In her keynote, Summers also noted that nurses are not proportionally represented in elected positions, especially compared to the overrepresentation of physicians. In Texas, nurses outnumber physicians 5 to 1, but the state legislature has five physician members and two nurse members.

The next session was focused on inspiring nurses to run for office, whether elected or appointed. Nikki Roux, JD, MBA, RN, CEN, FACHE, NEA-BC, and Cindy Strzelecki, MBA, BSN, RN, walked attendees through their paths into office, from the financial and legal challenges to the social and community aspects. In the comments, nurses were very interested in learning more about campaigns, how they work, how you find a good manager and how you fund a run for office.

Attendee Ellen Martin said, “I attended the Annie's List program,” referring to Annie’s List Campaign School, a four-week program geared towards increasing the number of women who work on political campaigns in Texas. “It was great. One of the speakers said the very best way to learn to campaign is to volunteer to work on a campaign.”

The key to advancing nurse policy is building relationships, as the presenters on the Grassroots Panel emphasized. Presenters Patty Frier, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Margie Dorman-O’Donnell, MSN, RN, and Jason Spees, MSN, MAOM, APRN, L.AC, FNP-C, shared their own experiences working directly with legislators, collaborating with representatives on opposite sides of the aisle, inviting lawmakers to shadow nurses and seeking out senators at local events. Moderated by Shakyryn Napier, DHSC, MSN, RN, CPN, current chair of the TNA Policy Council, the discussion covered many ways to engage locally to make an impact statewide, a key strategy for the legislative interim.

Solving Problems with Policy Solutions

The last part of the day aimed to give attendees tools to put everything into practice, starting with Stephanie Morgan, PHD, RN, FNP-BC, walking nurses through the process of identifying potential policy, evaluating and analyzing policy and proposals, and then implementing policy. She stressed that laws aren’t the only way to influence policy. From rulemaking to policies ― there are many other ways to make change happen.

In addition, councils, government agencies, educational institutions, local boards and other organizations all have some influence. Nurses can also get great experience through shared governance in their workplaces. Many of Morgan’s tips were common sense and emphasized that policy does not have to be all-encompassing or complicated:

• Baby steps matter.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel.
• Don’t try to move the whole elephant at once.

Following Morgan was TNA CEO Cindy Zolnierek, PhD, RN, CAE, who showed attendees how to develop a plan for success from the grassroots up to the federal level. Participants then broke out into small groups to brainstorm ways to tackle a specific health issue. From diabetes prevention to nursing education funding to workplace standards, the groups identified a problem they wanted to fix, constructed a policy position and put together a plan to address it, including media strategies and potential campaign statements.

Overall, nurses expressed their appreciation for each session and left armed with the tools they need to make policy change happen. With a place for any nurse to get involved and the power to change the health of all Texans, nursing policy plays a critical role in bettering nursing and health care.