Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change

Media can help set the agenda for the press, the public, and policymakers in the domain of policymaking by spotlighting what topics are newsworthy at any given time. By picking specific components of a perceived reality and making them more relevant in a communication environment, media can also impact how the public and lawmakers view or think about certain topics. Another way the media can influence politicians is through influencing public opinion, which puts pressure on officials to act. For example, media advocacy is a well-known public health tactic that can help raise public awareness and mobilize decision-makers for policy change (Bou-Karroum et al., 2017). Professional organizations such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) often engage in advocacy initiatives that see them fight for the welfare of patients but also that of the members. One strategy that they use to achieve a change in policy is to utilize the print and electronic media to elicit public awareness and ignite public debate on the issue. The purpose of this paper is to present a scenario in which the professional organization used a certain media channel to promote a health policy agenda.  Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change Essay Example

The Professional Nursing Organization

The American Nurses Association, or ANA, is one of the country’s largest professional nursing organizations. The association brings together all nurses from all specializations under one occupational umbrella, allowing them to speak with one voice regarding the well-being of nurses as healthcare professionals (ANA, 2022). Apart from being a nurse lobbying group that pushes the federal and state governments for pro-nursing reforms, the association also offers tools for continuous professional development for the nurses who are members.

An Example of ANA’s Use of Media to Promote a Healthcare policy Agenda

The healthcare sector has arguably been slow in embracing technology in all areas. This includes in advocacy by professional organizations such as the ANA. However, the slow but sure efforts at using the electronic media to champion policy causes is beginning to pay dividends. This is still a learning process though and a lot still needs to be done to fully harness the potential of the electronic media.

One very important advocacy issue that the ANA has been grappling with over the years is the change in policy by some states to allow advanced practice nurses (APNs) to practice autonomously with full practice authority or FPA (Dillon & Gary, 2017). The association has been pulling all stops on the state governments with reduced and restricted practice for APNs. One of the methods they have lately adopted to use is relentless postings on the social media to elicit pubic interest and educate the public to the effect that FPA is good for them and their access to quality affordable primary health care. According to Charalambous (2019), social media is one of the media outlets that are suitable for disseminating details and awareness about policy issues that require legislative action.

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However, in this case of the ANA, they chose to write very long posts instead of sensational but concise proclamations that can be easily picked by the public and remembered. This to me is counterproductive because users of social media move on very fast when they see such long posts. Social media posts need to be short, informative, and interesting to have any impact. This is the one attribute of the lack of success of this kind of social media use by the ANA.

Conclusion

The media is a very important medium when it comes to advocacy issues. Professional organizations often use the media in its many forms to sensitize the public and make them demand for what is rightfully theirs from the elected representatives. One such medium is the social media today. The ANA as a nursing professional organization has made attempts at using it for advocating for full practice authority for APNs. However, the lack of success with the social media is due to inability to understand the mindset of the average social media user.  

References

American Nurses Association [ANA] (2022). American nurses association. https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/

Bou-Karroum, L., El-Jardali, F., Hemadi, N., Faraj, Y., Ojha, U., Shahrour, M., … & Akl, E.A. (2017). Using media to impact health policy-making: An integrative systematic review. Implementation Science, 12(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0581-0

Charalambous, A. (2019). Social media and health policy. Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing, 6(1), 24-27. https://doi.org/10.4103/apjon.apjon_60_18

Dillon, D. & Gary, F. (2017). Full practice authority for nurse practitioners. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 86-93. https://doi.org/10.1097/naq.0000000000000210    Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change Essay Example