A Master’s Prepared Nurse Leader’s Role in Policy and Advocacy
Master’s prepared nurse leaders assume a critical role to inform change in healthcare through their policy and advocacy. They operate at the institutional, local, and state levels to implement change regardless of significant issues and challenges affecting their professional practice. Irrespective of such limitations, the master’s prepared nurse leader still plays a vital role in policy and advocacy.
To address the current issues and challenges facing nurses, effective leadership is necessary. Looking back at the role of the Florida Action Coalition, a master’s prepared nurse leader provides vital leadership to advance the nursing profession and enhance nurses’ resilience in dealing with clinical challenges in the country. Such difficulties include the nursing burnout due to the inadequacy of nursing staff and the increase in chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer (Kamal et al., 2016). The challenges will become worse in the next ten years, creating the need for more effective leadership.
A master’s prepared nurse leader understands the challenges and uses knowledge to inform policy changes. Besides, the leader collects data to inform action by other nurses and policymakers at the institutional, local, and state levels. Effective research is a necessary step towards advocacy and implementation of health policies (Williams et al., 2016). Therefore, the leader can spearhead the collection and use of data as evidence in practice to inform policies.
Nurse leaders hold a critical position to inform policy changes to address issues and challenges facing healthcare and public health in the country today. Through advocacy and collaborative efforts, a master’s prepared nurse leader can provide critical leadership to nurses and policymakers to implement effective change and interventions to deal with the current and future issues and challenges.
