Roadmap for Successful Political Advocacy: Linking Virginia's Story to Public Policy-Making Theory

Purpose: Nurses, nursing leaders, and other health care professionals have often underestimated their ability to educate legislators and the public on the value of their respective professions, and the need for policy change. One success story and case study lends guidance to health care and professional advocacy efforts to delineate a model for effective political advocacy and differentiate successful advocacy strategies for health policy change.

Methods: One success story and case study lends guidance to health care and professional advocacy efforts. In 2007, Virginia’s community of nurses rose to a challenge. There was a bottle­neck of students waiting for admission to Virginia nursing programs. Nursing leaders knew that recruiting and retaining qualified faculty was a huge challenge. In addi­tion, they felt that furthering nurses’ educational levels would prove the best route to increase the number of quali­fied nursing faculty. They felt that these initiatives would improve nursing school capacities in Virginia (VNA, 2007). Virginia nurses addressed the shortage by introducing legislation to improve faculty salaries and promote nursing education. They fully defined their problem, formed a unified coalition to develop a solution, and found the political environment favorable for policy change (Longest, 2010).

Results: By the use of effective coalition building Virginia nurses effectively defined the problem, created a solution, and found the 'window of opportunity' within the political environment in order to develop and influence policymakers to enact the following health policies:

• Increase nursing faculty salaries in all state schools by 10%.
• Begin a $200,000 scholarship and loan repayment program for graduate nursing students who plan to become nurse educators, with a focus on master’s education. (VNA, 2007).

Conclusion: Virginia nurses addressed the nursing faculty shortage by introducing legislation to improve faculty salaries and promote nursing education. They fully defined their problem, formed a unified coalition to develop a solution, and found the political environment favorable for policy change. Their advocacy success story lends guidance and encouragement for advocacy related to health care planning and nursing leadership policy initiatives. Linking their successful road to policy change to the B. B. Longest (2010) public policy-making framework provides a model and roadmap for success.