The Political Astuteness of Nurse Practitioners Following a Successful Legislative Journey

Abstract

Nebraska became the 20th state to modernize regulations to allow for full practice authority for nurse practitioners. Legislative victories such as those evident in Nebraska are often lead by professional associations and are dependent on the level of political astuteness found both in the leadership and members. Several studies have noted increased political astuteness in students through the use of health policy courses and activities and nurse legislative days, however the impact professional associations have on member nurse practitioners has not been reported. The aim of this study was to measure the level of political astuteness of member nurse practitioners (N=96) following participation in health policy advocacy activities, done on behalf of the state and national professional nurse practitioner associations, during the 2014 and 2015 legislative sessions in Nebraska. A cross-sectional survey, using a retrospective pretest-posttest design of the Political Astuteness Inventory, demonstrated an increase in overall astuteness and political participation of association members.