In the case at hand, the university’s faculty provided a rich resource for research that supported policy initiatives. Faculty became mentors and role models to inspire students and colleagues to become active in policy work. Recognizing the need for greater presence in the policy arena, nursing faculty members identified opportunities to collaborate across the disciplines of Communication, English, Public Policy and Nursing to educate chapter members, students and the community about policy activities and engage in efforts to shape policy decisions at the state level. As a result, three initiatives were proposed in two venues: the local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau and the College of Nursing in which they were employed.
To form a foundation for the first initiative, chapter members were polled to determine policy work experience and current involvement. Members with experience were Identified to determine core presenters for a program on policy initiatives. During an annual meeting, a continuing education program was used to highlight nurses’ unique perspective on policy and showcase a range of policy opportunities. The event was digitally recorded and used as a presentation in graduate and undergraduate health policy courses to feature examples of nurses involvement in policy initiatives.
The combination of exposure of students to examples of policy examples and a controversial ballot issue sparked the second initiative. Faculty in the College of Nursing assisted students in reaching across disciplines to prepare the first interdisciplinary public debate on the ballot issues. Students worked together to ignite interested students from across the university to research the topic of affordable prescriptions in the state of Ohio. Faculty from the College of Nursing worked with the College of Communication to develop and prepare students in how to present the public pro-con debate. Students self-selected to form two teams to debate the issue. Each team contained one nursing student and one communications student. The students used social media within the university to build interest in the topic. The debate was attended by 110 students. Students were from the colleges of Nursing, Communication, Public Health and Business. Students attending the debate from the Colleges of Communication, Public Health and Business requested future debates regarding alternative topics of interdisciplinary interest with enhanced pre-debate exposure. Students from the College of Nursing consented to lead the endeavor in the following semester.
In the third policy team initiative, faculty formed an interest consortium around the review of state-level nursing regulations. When faculty were presented with new proposed rules regarding changes in nursing education in the state, they engaged students, faculty and graduate assistants to research areas of interest. The team established a network to reach out to colleges of nursing across the state as collaborators to inform the policy decision and ensure all levels of nursing education were represented in the discussions. Their work culminated in the ability of nursing faculty to have a clear voice in policy decision-making at the state level and resulted in a formal introduction of state and federal policy discussions at monthly faculty meetings. This initiative lead the community of interest to recognize faculty as an untapped resource in policy discussions. Lead faculty identified an additional role in using their experiences to reinforce policy procedures and advocacy lexicon among their colleagues.
Speakers will discuss details about the three initiatives in this presentation. Speakers will address specific barriers including time commitment, perceptions of interdisciplinary relevance, competency with the policy process and support for communication within and around the community of interest. Policy team member roles, benefits of a policy team and barriers to policy involvement will also be addressed. This example of a interdisciplinary policy team occurred in an academic setting, but the principles of a policy team can be applied to health professionals in a wide variety of health care setting.