Advocacy in Population Health One only has to look back at the history of nursing to see why advocacy in the area of health for the population is so important. Florence Nightingale fought for change in nursing. Her advocacy for improving health care ultimately changed how nurses were viewed in our country and in the world. She knew that advocating change in the health care system was the only way to improve it. According to Mislead (2016), Involvement in policy decisions and political process is an integral part of the nursing role because of our history, practice, education, and professional organizations.
As Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, (APRN’s) we have an obligation to improve health care by first recognizing the problems that affect our healthcare systems and, advocating change. Only when APRN’s take an active role of advocacy and change utilizing policy process will notable changes occur in health reform. APRN’s that join nursing organizations and make contact with legislators and other elected officials will have an easier time getting policies changed using the political process. (Milstead 2016). Let’s look at a problem of increasing deaths from heart disease in NC and see how the policy process will affect the outcome. The first step is to identify the problem.
The problem is the unacceptable number of deaths in NC from cardiovascular disease, the acceptable range is 161.5, and North Carolina’s rate is currently 229.6. (North Carolina State Center for Health statistics, 2015). Using the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) model we will start to address this problem. The MAPP model was a joint project of the non –profit National Association of County and Ci.
.t needs it the most, has change been achieved? The process for evaluation of this program should start at the beginning of this process, and can include several methods, the quantitative and qualitative methods, the evaluation process can be very daunting and must be performed completely and efficiently. he evaluation of the program should be presented to numerous audiences , and with multiple opportunities for others to learn about the evaluation report ( Milstead,2015 ).The report should also include guidelines for change and improvement .The evaluation process will also tell us if the program was successful or areas where improvement is needed. Using the Mapp method evaluation is ongoing and even when programs are successful, they are also evaluated for improvement.
Our program would be deemed successful if our number of North Carolina residents who
