Factors that act as facilitators and barriers to nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development

Abstract

BackgroundHealth policies impact on nursing profession and health care. Nurses' involvement in health policy development ensures that health care is safe, of a high quality, accessible and affordable. Numerous factors influence nurse leaders' ability to be politically active in influencing health policy development. These factors can be facilitators or barriers to their participation. There is scant research evidence from Eastern African region that draws attention to this topic. This paper reports part of the larger study. The objectives reported in this paper were those aimed to: build consensus on factors that act as facilitators and barriers to nurse leaders' participation in health policy development in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.MethodsA Delphi survey was applied which included: expert panelists, iterative rounds, statistical analysis, and consensus building. The expert panelists were purposively selected and included national nurse leaders in leadership positions in East Africa. Data collection was done, in three iterative rounds, and utilized a questionnaire with open and closed ended questions. 78 expert panelists were invited to participate in the study; the response rate was 47% of these 64.8% participated in the second round and of those 100% participated in the third round. Data analysis was done by examining the data for the most commonly occurring categories for the open ended questions and descriptive statistics for structured questions.ResultsThe findings of the study indicate that both facilitators and barriers exist. The former include: being involved in health policy development, having knowledge and skills, enhancing the image of nursing and enabling structures and processes. The latter include: lack of involvement, negative image of nursing and structures and processes which exclude them.ConclusionThere is a window of opportunity to enhance national nurse leaders' participation in health policy development. Nurse leaders have a key role in mentoring, supporting and developing future nurse policy makers.

Impact of International Quality Improvement Collaborative on Congenital Heart Surgery in Pakistan

“…Low/middle-income countries face educational and cultural barriers that preclude nurses from communicating effectively. Such barriers include a lack of nurse involvement in patient management, inadequate communication training and hierarchy within the medical team discouraging expression of concern or opinions 12. Giving the CICU nurse a lead position and making her the liaison between the clinical team and this hospital’s leadership was pivotal in achieving empowerment at our institution.…”

Jordanian Nurses' involvement in health policy: perceived benefits and barriers

“…). Moreover, Shariff () found that lack of knowledge, skills and support, lack of enabling structures, lack of available resources and lack of involvement were perceived as barriers to nurse leaders’ involvement in health policy development.…”

“…). Other reported facilitators for enhancing nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development were being involved, being knowledgeable and skilled, being supported, the presence of enabling structures, availability of resources and positive image of nursing (Shariff ).…”

“…Nurses nowadays face challenges in being involved in the development and formulation of health policies (Kunaviktikul et al 2010;Shariff 2014;Toofany 2005). Involvement in health policy activities encompasses being knowledgeable about issues, laws and health policy (Boswell et al 2005).…”

“…Several barriers for nurses' involvement in health policy were cited in the literature such as scarcity of resources, constrains of time, lack of participation in nursing organizations, limited knowledge of legislative process, lack of political awareness (Boswell et al 2005;Oden et al 2000), limited public relations' skills and lack of support from the political sector and government officials (Kunaviktikul et al 2010). Moreover, Shariff (2014) found that lack of knowledge, skills and support, lack of enabling structures, lack of available resources and lack of involvement were perceived as barriers to nurse leaders' involvement in health policy development.…”