Being and doing politics: an outdated model or 21st century reality?

Abstract

Nurse educators must prepare nurses for political participation, and nurse managers need to focus on national and local contexts in order to encourage policy analysis and community engagement within nursing practice. An understanding of critical social theory can aid decision-making in relation to global and local policy, enable the nursing profession to respond to social injustice, and permit nurses to work with communities in the pursuit of community health.

Injustice, Suffering, Difference: How Can Community Health Nursing Address the Suffering of Others?

“…The Sisters of St. Joseph, although being instructed to refrain from marching, remained activists through registering African Americans to vote, participating in various boycotts, and providing health care to the injured. An "activist nursing profession can play a part in raising the level of discourse within society" about any number of factors key to the well-being of society's members (Carnegie & Kiger, 2009, p. 1983. But who will be the new nursing activists if enrollment in C/PHN programs continues to decline?…”

Enabling nursing students to focus on the Ottawa Charter and the nurses role in tackling inequalities in health through international exchange

“…Nurse educators need to further explore why this is the case in order to ensure that nurses of the future are aware of their role and responsibilities in this area and that they have the skills to work effectively to influence and build healthy policy. Two recently published discussion papers highlight the role of nursing education to prepare nurses for participation in the political process, especially needed to reduce health inequalities in the community (Carnegie & Kiger, 2009, Fyffe, 2009. Nurses have unique knowledge about the health and well being of the communities in which they live and work and this knowledge and experience needs to be harnessed to inform effective policy and practice development.…”

Nurses Becoming Political Advocates

“…Application of the critical social theory to nursing advocacy is discussed by Carnegie and Kiger. 6 The critical social theory seeks not only to understand a situation but to alter conditions to lead to resolution of the issue. 6 Carnegie and Kiger identify a method for nursing to shift focus from the individual patient to a broader-based community health issue, thus encouraging nurses to become involved in the sociopolitical aspects of the issue.…”