Tabytha Balash
Ohio University
Nursing and policy
Nurses have been making change in health care since Florence Nightingale. Advancement has been made in evidence based practice, increasing the scope of practice, and the ethical boundaries the profession abides by. Nurses have become a significant part of political change in health care. This paper will discuss ways nurses may become politically active, current legislation regarding childhood immunization, and lastly why meeting a political official would be beneficial.
There are several ways a nurse may be politically active. A nurse can be lobbyist by reaching out to his or her legislators or their aides regarding action that will affect his or personal …show more content…
The federal level runs monitoring and adverse event program coordinated by the CDC and FDA. State legislators are required to deicide on mandated immunization requirements. Legislators have to analyze the need to protect the greater good, compared to the concerns of the citizen he or she represents (NCSL, 2015). All school requirements are state based, and several states have an exemption clause for medical reasons, religious beliefs, and for parents who do not believe in vaccines. Currently in Pennsylvania, bills are being addressed to allow pharmacists to administer vaccines, to children under seven years of age, for health care providers to give expectant mothers information about pertussis vaccine, and to allow the health department to offer flu vaccine for children in schools (Richardson, …show more content…
HPV is the is the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the United States, with currently seventy-nine million Americans infected, and approximately fourteen million new cases each year (Richardson, 2015). HPV causes cervical cancer in women, penile cancer in men, and oropharyngeal and anal cancer, in both men and women (Richardson, 2015). HPV was first recommended for only females, and schools did not want to suggest a recommendation that only addressed half of the school population. HPV is now recommend for all teens, preferably before any sexual contact or possible exposure to the HPV virus due to the vaccine producing a higher immune response in preteens than older adolescents (Richardson, 2015).
The suggested change of making the HPV vaccine part of the school requirement package by the fifth grade would not directly affect my nursing practice. My nursing practice deals with care of telemetry and cardiac patients. My nursing practice would be affected by caring for less patients diagnosed with cancer caused by the HPV