Healthcare programs have significant implications for all stakeholders in the system, including patients and other care providers. Actors in the system are in constant pursuit of ways of making health care efficient and affordable for individuals and communities (Choi, 2015). Competent nursing professionals are behind this pursuit by advocating policies and programs they believe are beneficial to the system. Nurses have the professional and educational experience necessary to play their role in the design and implementation of health care programs (Kolb, 2014). Although nurses work in direct patient care, they are critical advocates in the design and implementation process.
Regardless of the competing interests in healthcare programs, nurses assume an essential place in their design and implementation. They collaborate with other health care providers, such as physicians, to protect their interests and those of their patients. They work in a highly politicized environment, which informs their struggle to communicate both providers’ and patients’ needs (Milstead & Short, 2019). Regardless of the challenging policy arena, nurses work with other individuals and groups who support the program to achieve the patient protection role. They have leadership and educating role to collaborate effectively. Nurses have successfully influenced critical programs in healthcare using their knowledge about patient needs and public health problems, such as an increase in obesity among children and adolescents.
Information is critical in the design and implementation of healthcare programs. Nurses generate vital data in the course of their work and interactions with patients (Sacristán & Dilla, 2015). They share the information with other health care providers in the program design and implementation. For example, they can provide data about the rate of medical errors when designing and implementing a program to address the problem in a critical care setting. Nurses play a research role in the program-development process to provide the necessary evidence to inform the process. As a result, many of the new programs, such as those designed to address health disparity, are informed by quality research evidence.
Nurses assume a leadership role in research, analysis, and advocacy in healthcare program design and implementation. In most cases, nursing professionals collaborate with other medical experts who lack adequate time to research and provide evidence for decision-making during the design and implementation of a healthcare program. Nurses close the gap by conducting research, including needs analysis to provide critical decision-making data (Sacristán & Dilla, 2015). In the collaborative teams, nurses are increasingly taking the lead role to support other team members to understand the factors behind a program and required solutions to health problems (Patton, Zalon, & Ludwick, 2018). They can work as an essential bridge between the political actors and other health care providers participating in the collaborative process.
Nurses are playing a critical role in the design and implementation of programs to address health care issues. They act as researchers, educators, and leaders working in collaborative teams involving other health care providers, such as physicians. They have developed the knowledge and experience necessary to operate in the policy arena. Nursing professionals conduct research to understand the health problem and propose solutions to policymakers, some who lack the fundamental information to solve health care challenges. They share information with other health care providers and political players in the program-development process. Nurses acquire necessary resources to design and implement programs successfully.