Politics for nursing

the long version

The purpose of this discussion is to explore the problem of limited nurses' involvement in public health care policymaking and to present suggestions on how the problem might be dealt with by a more effective use of nursing legislative committees and political action committees (PACs). The recommendations are based primarily on my experience as a chairperson of a developing District Nursing Association legislative committee and member of a State Nursing Association legislative committee and PAC. These experiences have been combined with insights later obtained as an NLN Summer-Study Fellow in Public Policy sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the congressional office of Congressman Silvio O. Conte, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and its Labor-H.E.W. Subcommittee. - Introduction.