Nurses shape health policy by advocating at every level, from hospital committees to Capitol Hill. As the largest segment of the global healthcare workforce, they translate frontline patient experience into legislative testimony, organizational standards and community outreach that drives measurable change in care delivery.
Nurses experience the daily influence of policy and politics in healthcare. As the largest group in the global healthcare workforce, nurses are uniquely positioned to see how health policy impacts patients and communities. All nurses can advocate for change, whether within their workplace, nursing organizations, government agencies or directly with policymakers and elected officials.
The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) online RN to BSN program prepares registered nurses with the leadership and communication skills needed to take that advocacy role seriously. Every nurse can have a voice in the creation and enforcement of health policies.
Understanding that voice starts with understanding what health policy is and why nurses are so well-suited to shape it. The sections below walk through the definition of health policy, the specific roles nurses play and the practical steps any nurse can take to get involved.
What Is Health Policy?
Health policy is broadly defined as the combination of plans, decisions and actions used to achieve desired healthcare outcomes within a society. Basically, it encompasses any law, regulation or research that impacts patient health and care providers. There are many health policy categories, including public health, individual health, care providers, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare systems.
Policy decisions at every level — from a hospital’s staffing procedures to federal legislation governing Medicare reimbursement — ultimately reach the bedside. Nurses who understand how these decisions are made are better positioned to influence them before they take effect rather than simply adapting to them after the fact.
Why Are Nurses Important in Health Policy?
Through policy work, nurses can influence healthcare for patients now and in the future. You can advocate for patient information to be at an appropriate level in plain language using health literacy guidelines. Or you could note if your work standards, such as policy and procedures or clinical pathways, follow evidence-based practice. You may decide to join a committee or council to facilitate change in best practices.
Nurses may join a national nursing organization to gain power with a collective voice. For example, the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) hosts the ONS Center for Advocacy and Health Policy to highlight cancer policy priorities, position statements, resources and coalitions. Many ONS members frequently testify before Congress, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health on healthcare issues that impact oncology nurses and patients with cancer.
Each year, nurses from several states join together on Capitol Hill Days to influence the legislative environment. Like many nursing specialty organizations, ONS has a Health Policy Director who leads the organization’s legislative and regulatory affairs at the national level while also empowering nurses to effect change in their own community and state.
Recent legislative activity shows just how much nurses’ advocacy moves the needle. The American Nurses Association has championed the Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act (H.R. 7546/S. 3860), which would make mandatory overtime optional rather than obligatory, and the Future Advancement of Academic Nursing (FAAN) Act, which would invest in nursing schools to rebuild the workforce. At the state level, Oregon signed House Bill 2789 into law in May 2025, allowing registered nurses to seek direct reimbursement for care management services without a physician order — a direct result of sustained nurse advocacy. These examples illustrate that nurses who engage with the policy process produce concrete, lasting change for both patients and the profession.
What Is the Role of Nurses in Health Policy?
Very few nurses choose a career in health policy, but most can shape health policy. You can advocate for individual patient health equity, resources or staff support.
Individual Health: Nurses have a key role in understanding, identifying and responding to barriers that prevent people from being as healthy as possible. These health disparities (or inequalities) are complex and often interwoven. Nurses consider social, cultural and economic factors to work toward health equity by advocating for their patients.
Population Health: According to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP), all nurses should focus on population health, serving in some capacity as community/public health nurses to address the needs of individuals, groups, families and populations in a variety of communities. Nurses often advocate for resources, services, basic provisions and education for their community.
Staff Health: Nurses in various roles use leadership skills to help teams function more effectively, ultimately improving patient care. Safe staffing and strategies to increase nurses’ personal wellness are critical to the health of our nation. The Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation campaign focuses on five key areas: physical activity, nutrition, rest, quality of life and safety.
As a nurse, you have the unique education and experience to influence policy. Below are five paths you can use to make your voice heard and help shape health policy.
5 Paths to Policy Advocacy for Nurses
Every nurse can advocate for policy change, regardless of experience or specialty. These five paths offer entry points at every level of engagement.
No single path requires a formal title or years of policy experience to begin. Even a first-year nurse who contacts a state representative or joins a shared governance committee is exercising a form of advocacy that, multiplied across the profession, shapes the healthcare environment for patients and colleagues alike.
- Learn the landscape: Understand how policy is made — from hospital procedure committees to state legislatures to Congress. Know who holds decision-making authority in your workplace and community, and identify the two or three health policy issues that matter most to you and your patients.
- Connect with organized nursing: Join a professional nursing organization — such as the American Nurses Association, the Oncology Nursing Society or a specialty group aligned with your practice area. Collective voices carry more weight with legislators than individual ones, and organizations provide toolkits, educational resources and direct access to policy events like Capitol Hill Days.
- Contact your representatives: Write, call or meet with your state and federal legislators about issues affecting patient care. Nurses are widely trusted by the public, and their firsthand accounts from the clinical environment make a strong impression on elected officials who rarely hear from frontline healthcare workers.
- Participate in shared governance and committees: Internal policy starts close to the bedside. Joining a unit-level shared governance council, a hospital quality committee or a community health board puts you in the room where organizational policies — on staffing, safety and care pathways — are written and revised.
- Pursue advanced education: A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or graduate degree builds the analytical, leadership and communication skills that make nurses more effective advocates inside health systems and at the policy table. Programs that incorporate health policy coursework prepare nurses to evaluate legislation, contribute to research and lead interdisciplinary teams.
How Can Nurses Take Action on Health Policy?
Nurses and nursing students can be mindful of the policy development issues that affect their practice and patient care. Collectively, nurses can take the lead in supporting the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim — better health, better care and lower cost.
Nurses are essential advocates for health policy. As frontline team members trying to meet the unique needs of multiple patients, nurses are key to sharing personal experiences of how health policy impacts patient care. Nurse leaders can use their sphere of influence to shape policy within their organization and encourage nursing staff’s involvement in health policy.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nurses and Health Policy
How do nurses influence health policy?
Nurses influence health policy through the five paths described above — from learning the legislative landscape and joining professional organizations to contacting representatives and pursuing advanced education. What makes that influence unusually effective is what no other stakeholder can offer: direct, daily experience with the human consequences of policy decisions, combined with the professional scale of the nation’s largest healthcare workforce.
Why is it important for nurses to be involved in healthcare policy?
Nursing has consistently ranked as America’s most trusted profession in Gallup’s annual survey for more than two decades, a distinction that gives nurses unusual influence when they choose to speak. That public trust is most powerful when nurses direct it toward the policy decisions that govern how care is delivered, financed and staffed.
What is an example of a nurse influencing policy?
Oregon House Bill 2789, described in detail above, is one state-level example — but federal advocacy produces results too. Nurses and nursing organizations have pushed for the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, reintroduced in 2025 with bipartisan support, demonstrating that nurse-led advocacy sustained over time can move legislation from proposal to law.
Can a registered nurse work in health policy?
Yes. Nurses work in health policy as legislative staff, policy analysts at government agencies, directors at professional associations and advisors to elected officials. Formal health policy careers require additional training, often a graduate degree in nursing, public health or public policy. All registered nurses can participate in policy through their current role, their professional organization or their community.
Nurses who want to transition into a full-time policy role often start by volunteering with a state nursing association, joining a legislative advocacy committee or pursuing continuing education in health policy and leadership. These steps build the network and knowledge base that health policy careers depend on.
What do nurses advocate for in terms of health policy?
Nurses advocate on two fronts simultaneously: workforce issues like safe staffing ratios, workplace violence protections and expanded scope of practice, and patient-centered issues like health literacy, access to preventive care and reducing the social determinants that drive chronic illness. Nursing advocacy is distinct from other healthcare lobbying efforts because it addresses both the conditions nurses work under and the outcomes their patients experience.
How does the ANA support nurses in health policy?
Beyond its organization-level lobbying described above, the American Nurses Association gives individual nurses direct tools to participate: pre-written messaging templates for contacting congressional representatives, legislative alert sign-ups and guidance on preparing for in-person meetings with elected officials. Membership in the ANA or an affiliated state chapter immediately connects nurses to these resources.
What skills does a nurse need to advocate effectively for health policy?
Effective nurse advocates combine clinical credibility with communication skills — the ability to translate patient stories and outcomes data into language that resonates with policymakers. Other important skills include understanding the legislative process, writing clearly for non-clinical audiences, building coalitions with other healthcare professionals and advocacy groups, and staying current on proposed regulations and legislation that affect nursing practice and patient care.
Advanced nursing education helps develop these competencies in a structured way. Programs that include coursework in health policy, leadership and evidence-based practice specifically prepare nurses to engage with the systems that govern how care is delivered and financed.
Learn more about the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s online RN to BSN program.
About UNCW’s Online RN to BSN Program
The University of North Carolina Wilmington is a public research university and member of the University of North Carolina System, located in Wilmington, North Carolina. UNCW serves more than 18,000 students across programs in arts and sciences, business, education, and health and human services.
The School of Nursing holds accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), reflecting a commitment to rigorous, practice-ready nursing education. The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s online RN to BSN program is designed for working registered nurses seeking to advance their practice and expand their professional impact.
