INFLUENCING POLICY WRITING

This assignment will provide you with the opportunity to practice influencing policy by communicating with a legislator about a current health problem. The letter should be in block format for a business letter, the letter may be more than one page.  You do need to support with evidence.  Cite your sources and include a reference page at the end of your letter.  Follow the assignment directions and review the rubric.  

You can view samples for formatting a business letter on the following link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/professional_technical_writing/basic_business_letters/sample_letters.html

Follow the steps below to write a letter advocating for change, go to for an example:  

Select a current health problem that is being debated at the national and/or state level (e.g., the proliferation of “pill mills”, pain clinics, etc) and state why it is of interest. Be sure to research your problem.

Identify a legislator (state or federal) and state why that person is the appropriate one to contact, you will show why this is right person to contact based on the supporting data you provided in your letter.

Draft a letter to the legislator in business block format including the proper salutation.

1. Introduce yourself and your reason for writing.Include the following in the body of your letter:
2. Introduce yourself and your reason for writing.
3. State concisely what you understand to be the current socioeconomic, political, and ethical issues surrounding the problem. You must have supporting data (include citations).
4. Discuss the implications of the problem for your community, nursing or nursing practice.
5. Make a clear request for action. You must have supporting data (include citations).
6. Request a response.
7. Include a reference page beginning on the page following the end of the letter, also include  citations in the body of your letter. At least three references are required.
8. References
9. Minimum of three (3) total references: one (1) reference from required course materials and two (2) peer-reviewed references. All references must be no older than five years (unless making a specific point using a seminal piece of information)
10. Peer-reviewed references include references from professional data bases such as PubMed or CINHAL applicable to population and practice area, along with evidence based clinical practice guidelines. Examples of unacceptable references are Wikipedia, UpToDate, Epocrates, Medscape, WebMD, hospital organizations, insurance recommendations, & secondary clinical databases. 

Textbooks:

Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, Elsevier Saunders, 2021, 8th edition

Read Chapters 38, 50, 51, 53, 56, 57, 71, 82

Do not panic! There are several chapters to read; however, they are brief. Mason, Gardner, Hopkins Outlaw and O’Grady provide succinct explanations and specific examples of health care policy in action. The beginning chapters discuss the philosophy of politics, the readings then continue with media influences, disparities, the importance of EBP, and more. I think this week will be informative and thought provoking. This week I do strongly suggest that you at least skim the supplemental readings.