How public health policy shapes nursing practice

The nursing workforce is critical for putting healthcare policy into action. We take a look at how public health policy feeds directly into nursing practice, how nurses can shape policy development, and some public health initiatives supported by nurses.

“Nurses might argue that they ‘don't do policy’ but, in the highly politicised setting of the NHS, when nurses are in the front line of health policy delivery, this is not an option,” say Traynor et al ( 2013) in the British Nursing Journal.

Evidence-based public health policy and nursing are intertwined, whether nurses think of it that way or not. And since nurses are the largest group of healthcare professionals globally it’s difficult to imagine any public health policy existing without the involvement of the nursing profession.

Health policy frames the professional role of nurses: it informs how they do their day to day jobs; guides what to prioritise and which resources are available; and it has a direct impact on the day to day lives of their patients. 

Nurses’ involvement in health policymaking

With their on-the-ground expertise in patient care, social care and working in communities, nurses can also play an important role in the development of health policy, such as through advocacy for patients or highlighting inequalities they have witnessed in the communities they serve.

“Nurses should be upstream in the development of public health policies and really reflecting the experience both of the nursing practice but also of the patients and the community they’re serving. You’d be surprised how often nurses and nursing organizations are involved in public health policy — but they don’t always get the acknowledgement for it,” says Stella Aguinaga Bialous at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing.

“Nurses at all levels need to be better socialised to feel comfortable in that role – not only that they have a seat at the table, but they have a voice and with something to say about improving patient and community care.”

Some of the different ways nurses can influence policy include the publication of press releases and position statements, for example, as well as expressing opinions and providing evidence on how they think certain health policies may impact their patients and communities.

In the UK, the Department of Health’s Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England’s vision is that nurses and midwives are expert leaders within their fields and they should contribute to and shape the development of health policy.

In 2019, the CNO Policy Network was established. This offers registered nurses, nursing students, midwives and nursing associates the chance to engage with, inform and influence a broad range of areas of healthcare policy for the benefit of their communities. The network aims to strengthen the nursing and midwifery voice and make sure that their expertise is at the heart of all policy decision-making through expert advice, political knowledge and collaborative working.

How do nurses work to promote public health?

In public health, nurses play a big part in improving the health outcomes and wellbeing of communities. To give just a few examples from many:

• Community health nurses work with other health professionals in the health services to educate communities and deliver the most appropriate care. For example they educate and provide motivational advice on a wide range of health issues: everything from advising on the importance of staying well to someone with alcoholic liver disease, helping an older person to exercise in a nursing home, or engaging with school children about healthy eating options.

• Nurse prescribers play a central role in population health initiatives such as smoking cessation campaigns. For those people who would like to stop smoking, they can deliver treatments and interventions to help people quit, such as nicotine replacement therapy and varenicline (Champix; a drug that reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms).

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were actively involved with evaluation and monitoring in the community; planning for anticipated COVID-19–related outbreaks; working with providers to maintain supplies of personal protective equipment; and offering screening information and triage protocols based on the latest guidance.

• School nurses build trusting and enduring professional relationships with children and young people throughout their time in education. They provide safe and confidential services to children whenever they need health support and advice and provide health promotion, prevention and early intervention ways of supporting individual children, community and population health needs.

These examples just scratch the surface of the many ways that nurses can deliver and shape health policy to improve the health and wellbeing of the population, underlining how critical nursing and public health policy are to one another.

Become a future nurse leader and shape life-changing policies

If you’re a registered nurse keen to bolster your professional development, broaden your understanding of your role and carry out master’s level study and research in your area of practice, the online MSc Nursing at Queen Margaret’s University could be the course (with other in-person post-registration courses available on campus), or.

The programme is ideal for an international field of professionally registered nurses from a range of settings within healthcare systems. Study on this programme and you’ll help lead societal change and improve patient outcomes through professional, evidence-based practice - whether that’s as a nurse practitioner, in community nursing or any nursing setting.

QMU’s MSc Nursing students critically develop their own professional practice and related career development, and gain the skills and competencies they need to pursue future doctoral study anywhere in the world.

What’s more, you can continue to earn while you learn because the course is taught 100% online and part time, fitting around your life