39^th, Perioperative Nurses Scientific Conference, 2022 (Mombasa, Kenya)

LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION: NURSES IN POLITICS

PRESENTER'S: Francis Mariach Kenimak and Saadia Bare Osman

M.Sc. Med. Micro. Bio (U.O.N)/ BScN (U.E.A.BN/ KRPON/ KRCHN/Microvascular Specialist (KNH).

BSc.CHD(GLUK),KRPoN, KRCHN and Theatre Nurse I/C Garissa county referral hospital.

DATE: 9^th,-----11^th,November,2022.

Introduction:

• Politics is defined as “the art of using legitimate power wisely.” (Marquis and Huston).
• Collins's dictionary, defines it as the actions or activities concerned with realizing and using power in a country or society to influence governance and policies.
• Most often Kenyan healthcare policies are formulated by other professions or individuals with limited knowledge and experience.
• Non-political nurses(consumers), get frustrated by these policies affecting their practice, leading to negativity, disillusionment, bitterness and burn-out resulting in multiple strikes.

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Cont.…….

• Nursing profession, a voice to reckon, has significant power to profoundly impact healthcare policy globally.
• Nursing is the largest medical profession in the world, with nearly 5.3 million in U.S.A alone (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021).
• Globally there are 27 million nurses and midwife’s workforce. This accounts for nearly 50% of the world health workforce (W.H.O, 2022), hence nurses should be leading the way in redesigning the healthcare system (Jennifer J. Brokaw).
• Nurses are patient advocates; when nurses influence the politics that improve the delivery of healthcare, they are ultimately advocating for their patients as they have potential to profoundly influence policy on a global scale.

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Current facts…..

• Locally, nurses can become politically active in national, county and other elective, legislative positions by obtaining formal training to assume, compete or have influence in leadership positions of healthcare system, as healthcare legislation ultimately affects us all.
• Today’s young nurses are more educated and more diverse. They bring more energy, more ideas, and more ingenuity to the nursing profession. Perhaps they will even bring more political activism we require.
• Status , Role of a Nurse Leader
• Leadership in nursing begins at the bedside. Then, “by developing and perfecting their fundamental leadership skills, bedside nurses can positively impact patient outcomes,” said Bell. Clinical and bedside nurses use leadership skills to coordinate, direct, and support patient care and other healthcare team members.

Cont.……….�

• He further explains that; A primary role of the nurse leader is to serve as a role model to healthcare and team members.

They also possess effective communication skills and serve as a patient advocate.

Qualities of a Good Leader in Nursing

To be effective in influencing and engaging others toward operationalizing goals, the emotionally intelligent nurse leaders must be well-versed in:

1. Hard skills: The hard skills for nurse leaders include advanced clinical knowledge and technical skills that the nurse leader needs to perform their job.
2. Soft skills are the social skills that need to be consciously developed over time and help the nurse leader effectively communicate with peers and subordinates alike,” Bell said. “In other words, the soft skills are critical for the nurse leader to get along with others in the workplace.”

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A successful nurse leader must be knowledgeable about:

• The healthcare system, advocacy, and policy
• Conflict management and negotiation
• Finance, business, and human resource management
• Strategic management
• Professional development
• Self-care, such as practicing mindfulness and developing resiliency
• According to Bell; these combined skills promote increased productivity, higher staff satisfaction, and lower staff turnover. This leads to high quality of care plus excellent safety and desirable patient outcomes.

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Limitations in nursing participation in policy and politics

There are several reasons for the limited nursing participation in policy and politics.

• Lack of awareness, inadequate skills, and little opportunity for involvement are just a few factors.
• Another barrier is the limited formal health care policy education in nursing.
• Time and resources are further obstacles to the nursing profession’s participation in politics.
• Additionally, studies show that nurses are not given sufficient support to generate the evidence needed to influence healthcare policy.

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Background

• Political skills are essential for nurses because low political skill places them at a disadvantage for gaining power, information, and resources via social networks, Montalvo,2020. He further said that; Nurse managers who have earned a higher education levels play an important role in managing office politics in healthcare settings.
• Unfortunately nurses often seems to rely on unions or figureheads to represent profession interests and often feel disempowered or disinterested by the politics of healthcare. Jennifer offers a call to action

Slogan – stand up and be counted as a profession #NursesUnite.

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Cont.…….

Florence Nightingale developed statistical graphs and showed them to the British Parliament, convincing politicians to continue funding her work in Crimea. There is a legacy in health care resulting from political activity, and nurses today needs these efforts.

Here are my top 3 reasons why nurses need to be politically active:

1. Politics can change the work we do.

Political factors can have a substantial impact on what type of work we do as nurses in the society. As nurses, we can ask ourselves, who is coming through our doors? What could be done to address preventable illness and injury?

2. We can represent the interests of the nursing profession.

Most nurses are experiencing, or have experienced a period where there have been health care cutbacks. Wage freezes, working in contracts, decreases to hospital funding, strikes(most of us have experienced it).

Nurses can follow these funding decisions directly which impact on patient care, as our role in providing patient care.

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Cont.…….

When we vote, we elect people who will make budgeting decisions. We need to vote for people who will support our job security, and who will adequately fund our health care.

We can also reinforce the importance of the nursing profession by contacting politicians to share information and let them know that nurses vote. Political activity gives nurses an opportunity to represent and advance professional values.

3. Politics is a means for nurses to advocate for patients. Advocacy is very important for nurses because social justice is a core value of the nursing profession.

When we work in clinical settings, we can help one patient at a time, and this work is central to our profession but when we vote, sign a petition, or participate in a political event, we can potentially help thousands of people at a time.

Political activity takes the work of nurses from being a discreet event in one setting, and raises it to a societal level.

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Cont.……

• A lot of the social determinants of health can be impacted through political decisions. Nurses can help to protect health care access for vulnerable populations. An example of this was a refugees law in Canada, where funding was cut to refugee health care programs. An outcry from nursing professions took an effective political action case to advocate for a vulnerable population to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the decision was overturned.
• For all countries to reach Sustainable Development Goal 3 on health and well-being, WHO estimates that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.
• Nurses play a critical role in health promotion, disease prevention and delivering primary and community care. They provide care in emergency settings and will be key to the achievement of universal health coverage.
• Achieving health for all will depend on there being sufficient numbers of well-trained and educated, regulated and well supported nurses and midwives, who receive pay and recognition commensurate with the services and quality of care that they provide.

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• Cont.………
• Investing in nurses and midwives is good value for money a (triple return of improved health outcomes), according to the report of the UN High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth.
• Nursing is a well-regarded profession

Nurses are held in high esteem by the American public according to the annual survey of honesty and ethics conducted by Gallup. In fact, nurses ranked No. 1 for honesty and ethics for the 20th year in a row and Nurse practitioner is ranked number one, in health care by U.S. News & World Report(Elmhurst University’s, 2022).

Nurses and midwives are central to Primary Health Care and are often the first and sometimes the only health professional that people see and the quality of their initial assessment, care and treatment is vital ( The state of the world’s nursing 2020 report)

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Way forward:…..

. Nursing school’s curriculum should provide policy courses. Employers should also provide nurses with time, resources, and opportunities to influence this healthcare policies.

Oestberg states, that, “As nurses, we need to think of policy as something we can influence, not just something that happens to us.” He further points out that, “If nurses don’t stand up for issues that are important to us, those with competing interests in healthcare may be the only ones whose voices are heard.” By joining their voices together, American nurses can influence the policy and politics that affect healthcare.

Locally as Kenyan nurses we need to shout loudly, vote and participate in politics to be heard in policy making.

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Conclusion:…..

• Regardless of the multiple factors limiting the nursing profession’s potential impact on politics, the fact remains that nurses are vital to the development and implementation of healthcare policy.
• Nurses need support in order to effect change and that support starts at home. Families and friends of nurses to encourage political activism.
• Nursing schools/ faculties need to include healthcare policy education/ policy changes as role models for their students, as part of the curriculum and encourage some level of political involvement for nursing students.
• Finally, employers need to provide nurses with the time, resources, and opportunities to influence local, state and federal policy. After all, healthcare legislation ultimately affects us all, says; Jennifer J. Brokaw, Florida.
• Finally brethren's if God Has blessed you with political ability/ ambition just believe in yourself and go for it.
• Thank you………………………END.

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