An Evidence Based Web Intervention to Facilitate Nurse Practitioner Participation in the Policy Making Process Related to Scope of Practice

Historically nurses have been strongly engaged in the political process, however in recent decades the profession has moved away from the policy arena. Without political engagement, issues that are important to the nursing profession are not addressed timely, if at all. One such issue is that of full practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Well over 100 studies have been completed over the past 40 years showing the safe and quality care APRNs provide independently. Numerous well-respected, non-nursing organizations support the removal of state laws that impede the ability of APRNs to practice to the full extent of their education and training, particularly in light of the looming extinction of primary care physicians and the simultaneous increase in demand for primary care services (American Association of Retired People, 2011; Federal Trade Commission, 2012; Institute of Medicine, 2010; National Governor's Association, 2012). The purpose of this capstone project was to provide a website in which APRNs and APRN students could communicate quality information to legislators in support of full practice for APRNs in West Virginia during a legislative session in which a full practice bill was introduced. Website visitors who were APRNs or APRN students were asked to complete a survey on the website comparing their communication with legislators last year to their communication or intended communication, after they had been introduced to the website, during the current session. Findings included a strong statistical association between use of the website and communication with legislators along with a statistical association between use of the website and conveyance of quality information supporting full practice authority. The findings suggest that websites related to specific nursing issues could be a method to increase political involvement of nurses.

Name thesis:degree_name

DNP

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Family/Community Health

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• DiChiacchio, Toni

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cynthia Persily
• Aila Accad
• Andrea Brassard

• Nursing

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/140

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-1143