Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care enables readers to analyze policy issues, enhance their political knowledge and skills, and prepare for leadership roles in policy-making and public health.
This resource cultivates the development of valuable skills including political and policy analysis, conflict management, lobbying, the use of media, and working with communities for change. These abilities are essential for any nurse assuming a leadership role in today's changing health care environment.

• Solid breadth and depth of content covers both policy and politics.
• Contributors include many leading nurse experts in policy and politics.
• A diverse mix of styles, perspectives, and levels of content to appeal to many nursing audiences.
• Policy Spotlights provide key information on specific policy issues such as complementary therapies, reimbursement, social security, childcare and Medicare issues and options.

UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO POLICY & POLITICS IN NURSING & HEALTH CARE

1. Policy & Politics: A Framework for Action

a. The Influence of Values on a Policy Agenda: The Quaker Perspective

2. A Historical Perspective on Policy, Politics and Nursing

3. Learning the Ropes of Policy, Politics and Advocacy

a. Learning to be the Lead Goose: Making the Leap into Policy

b. The Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship

c. How a Nurse Learned to Advance Geriatric Nursing Issues

4. A Primer on Political Philosophy

5. Policy Development and Analysis: Understanding the Process

6. Political Analysis And Strategies

a. The Nightingales Take on the Big Tobacco Industry

7. Communication Skills for Political Success

8. Coalitions: A Powerful Political Strategy

a. Lessons from the Long-Term Care Coalition

9. Harnessing the Power of the Media to Influence Health Policy and Politics

a. Getting Free Media Coverage for Nursing Issues

b. Distributed Campaigns: Using the Internet to Empower Activism

c. Talking the Right Talk about Nursing

d. Changing Poor Portrayals of Nurses in the Media: The Center for Nursing Advocacy

10. Research as a Political and Policy Tool

a. From Practice to Policy: Improving Wound Care Outcomes

b. Falls and Public Policy: Creating a Blueprint for Change

11. Conflict Management: A Critical Part of Politics

a. Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Tool for Managing Conflict

12. Health Policy, Politics and Professional Ethics

UNIT 2: HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AND FINANCING

13. The US Health Care System

a. The National Health Service in the United Kingdom

b. Could a National Health System Work in The United States?

c. Community Health Centers: A Successful Strategy for Improving Health Care Access

d. The Politics of Long Term Care

e. Evolving Policy in Home Health Care

f. Mental Health Parity: Will it Ever Happen?

g. The Department of Defense TRICARE Program: Health Care for the United States Military

h. The U.S. Veterans Administration: Policy Change for the Greater Good in an Integrated Health System

i. Successes and Struggles in Complementary Health Care

j. The Role of Foundations in Improving Health Care

k. Neonatal Palliative Care: Moving a Vision Forward

l. The Politics of the Pharmaceutical Industry

14. A Primer on Health Economics

a. Social Security: Key to Economic Security

15. Financing Health Care in the U.S.

a. Massachusetts' Strategy for Financing Care for the Uninsured

b. Reforming Medicare

c. Interests, Ideology, and Institutional Dynamics in the Creation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

d. Children's Health Insurance Coverage: Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP)

e. Using Private Funds to Improve School Health

UNIT 3: POLICY AND POLITICS IN THE WORKPLACE

16. Contemporary Issues In The Health Care Workplace

a. How Magnet Status Drives Change in Health Care Institutions

b. When a Hurricane Strikes: The Challenge of Crafting Workplace Policy

c. Health Services Research: Shaping Patient Safety Policy

17. Ten Keys to Unlocking Policy Change in the Workplace

a. Needlestick Injuries in the Workplace: Implications for Public Policy

b. Transforming Care at the Bedside: Shadyside Hospital's Code Red

c. Family Presence at the Bedside: Changing Hospital Policy

18. The Nursing Workforce: Supply and Demand

a. California Nurse Staffing Ratios

b. Mandatory Staffing: Australia's Experience

c. Using Technology to Mitigate the Nursing Shortage

d. Nurse Staffing Impact on Organizational Outcomes

e. Diversity in Nursing: A Long Road Ahead

19. Politics of Advanced Practice Nursing

a. Diminishing Reproductive Choices in New York City: The Demise of the Midwifery Model

b. Reimbursement Issues for Nurse Anesthetists: A Continuing Challenge

20. Collective Action in the Workplace: The Role of Unions

a. Non-Union Collective Action in Nursing

21. A Political Minefield: Conducting Nursing Research

UNIT 4: POLICY AND POLITICS IN THE GOVERNMENT

22. Contemporary Issues in Government

a. Stem Cell Research in Maryland: A Nurse-Legislator's Initiative

b. Reefer Madness: The Illogical Politics of Medical Marijuana

c. Genetics, Discrimination, and Privacy

d. Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health and Policy Problem

23. How Government Works and What You Need to Know to Influence the Process

a. Political Appointments

b. Making the Most of Political Appointments: My Life as a Federal and State Official

24. An Overview of Legislation and Regulation: How the Sausage is made

a. From Sewage Problems to the Statehouse: My Life as an Elected Official

b. Farm-girl, Nurse, and Legislator: My Journey to the Delaware General Assembly

c. A Nurse in Congress: The Honorable Lois Capps

d. I Believed I Could Make a Difference: The Honorable Carolyn McCarthy

e. My Path to Congress: The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson

f. Hog-Housed: The Life and Death of BSN Entry to Practice in North Dakota

g. The Politics Of Nursing Regulation and Licensure

25. Lobbying Policymakers: Individual and Collective Strategies

a. An Insider's View of Lobbying

26. Interest Groups: Powerful Political Catalysts in Health Care

a. Extending Influence: Serving on the AARP Board

27. The American Voter and Electoral Politics

a. Political Activity: Different Rules for Government-Employed Nurses

b. The Power Of Political Contributions

c. Anatomy of a Political Campaign

d. Truth or Dare: One Nurse's Political Campaign

e. There's Nothing Quite Like Campaigning for Office

28. Nursing and the Courts

UNIT 5: POLICY AND POLITICS IN ORGANIZATIONS

29. Contemporary Issues in Nursing Organizations

30. You and Your Professional Nursing Organization

31. Nursing in Action: Policy Initiatives of Specialty Nursing Associations

a. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments

b. The Oncology Nursing Society: Engaging Support for the Nurse Reinvestment Act

c. The American Nephrology Nurses' Association: A Grassroots Initiative to Educate Lawmakers

d. The Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses: Reimbursement Policy for Registered Nurse First Assistants

e. The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses: Policy Initiatives to Address Workplace Violence

f. The Emergency Nurses Association: Making the Case for Safe Staffing Systems

g. The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates and Practitioners: Taking Action on the Epidemic of Childhood Overweight

h. The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses: Folic Acid Advocacy

i. The National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses: All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Safety Education and Legislation

UNIT 6: POLICY AND POLITICS IN THE COMMUNITY

32. Where Policy Hits the Pavement: Contemporary Issues In Communities

a. Homelessness and Health: Creating Lasting Solutions

b. Sex, Science and Policy: Approaches to Adolescent Sexual Health

c. The Demise of an Adolescent Sexuality Education Program

d. The Politics of Childhood Immunizations

e. Wake-up Call: Mobilizing Communities to Improve Health Literacy

f. Child Care Policy: A Challenge for the Nation

33. Working with the Community for Change

a. Regulating Industrial Chemicals to Protect the Environment and Human Health

b. The Condom Lady

c. Influencing the Community by Serving on a Board

34. Nursing in the International Community: A Broader View of Nursing Issues

a. Global Nurse Migration: Policies for Managing a Scarce Resource

b. Infectious Disease: A Global Health Care Challenge

c. The Global HIV/AIDS Crisis: Policy Responses in the Face of Limited Resources

d. Conflict and War: Impact on the Health of Societies

e. International Emergencies: Health Care and Human Rights

By Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Nursing, New York, NY; Judith K. Leavitt, RN, MEd, FAAN, Health Policy Consultant Barnardsville, NC.; and Mary W. Chaffee, ScD(h), MS, RN,CNAA, FAAN, PhD Candidate, University of Maryland Baltimore