nursing politics
Letter to the Legislator (15 percent of final grade)
Assignment Information
This assignment provides you with the opportunity to use a specific political advocacy strategy: communication with a legislator via a letter. Expressing your support or lack of support for proposed legislation (bills) can be a powerful way to speak up about an issue. In this assignment, you will identify a proposed bill and voice your support for, or argument for not, passing that particular bill.
Completion of this assignment will demonstrate your achievement of the following course outcomes:
describe the impact of health care policies on nursing practice and health care work environments to determine the financial and regulatory influences on patient care
evaluate the political advocacy process to identify opportunities for nursing professional involvement
delineate strategies that nurses can use to engage in advocacy for health care policy to support equity, access, affordability, and social justice for consumers and in support of the nursing profession
Assignment Guidelines
Select a piece of legislation proposed either in your state or at the national level.
Identify your state representative at the level of the bill—this will be either your state, House of Representatives, or Senate representative, depending on the bill that you selected. State-Maryland, US
Conduct a literature review to identify evidence pertaining to the issue addressed in the bill. Find at least three sources.
Develop a letter to send to your state legislator. This letter should integrate the evidence supporting your position. The following websites offer templates, examples, and/or guidelines for letters to legislators that you may want to consider.
https://www.ncsbn.org/APRN_formletter_Legislator_web.pdf
http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/how-write-your-402285.html
http://www.aacn.org/wd/practice/content/publicpolicy/legislators.pcms?menu =
Grading Criteria
Follow these guidelines in writing your letter.
Write the letter in a business letter format.
Include the following:
introduction of self and professional position
overview of the bill you want to address
clear argument in support of or not in support of the bill
integration of evidence from scholarly literature to support your position
legal name, credentials, and contact information
Proofread the letter so that it is free of grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors.
Hide Rubrics
Rubric Name: Assignment #4: Letter to Legislator
Criteria Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Format 3 points
Highly professional in appearance and in a business letter format
2 points
Professional in appearance and in a business letter format
1 point
Unprofessional in appearance
Introduces self and professional position 3 points
Introduces self and clearly states professional position
2 points
Introduces self, somewhat ambiguous on professional position
1 point
Does not introduce self, unclear on professional position
Description of the bill Opinion of the bill 3 points
Description of the bill demonstrates clear understanding. Clearly states opinion of the bill
2 points
Describes the bill and states opinion of the bill
1 point
Incomplete/ambiguous description of the bill, does not demonstrate knowledge of the bill. No opinion of the bill stated.
Integration of evidence from scholarly literature 3 points
Through integration of the evidence from scholarly literature. Demonstrates synthesis of information obtained from the literature
2 points
Integrates the evidence from the literature, some references not from scholarly sources
1 point
Little to no integration of the evidence, does not synthesize the information obtained from the literature, information not obtained from scholarly sources
Spelling, sentence structure organization & grammar 3 points
Excellent spelling, sentence structure and grammar throughout the paper. Excellent organization and easy to read.
2 points
Some spelling, sentence structure and grammar errors. Paper generally is readable. Some organization problems
1 point
Many spelling, sentence structure and grammar mistakes throughout the paper. Difficult to read with very little organization.
Overall Score Level 3
11 or more Level 2
6 or more Level 1
0 or more
