Rounding out National Nurses Month is this week's theme: Community engagement. For the final week of Nurses Month, the American Nurses Association is calling on nurses to educate members of their community on the ways they go above and beyond their vital roles in direct care delivery by participating in things like advocacy, public policy, and serving on an organization's board. 

Let's face it — health-related policy and funding decisions that are made at local, state, and federal levels impact providers and clinicians of all disciplines, including nursing professionals.

In addition, various societal issues challenging the nation directly impact both the health and welfare of patients and families as well as the nursing professionals serving in their communities.

For these reasons, we are seeing a growing number of nurses — including frontline providers, managers, leaders, educators, and researchers — seeking opportunities to engage in and influence policy-related decisions.

Public health and broader societal issues that nurses are actively involved in range from criminal consequences for violence directed at healthcare staff, to safe gun control legislation, to the myriad challenges with supporting reproductive health, even the need to guarantee voting rights.  

Given current workforce challenges, nurses and nurse leaders are significantly involved in lobbying Congress for various bills aimed at supporting workforce development; including Title VIII: The Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act. At the same time, nurse leaders are actively involved in efforts to dissuade state and federal legislatures from enacting staffing ratios and federal staffing standards.

With nursing school enrollments decreasing last year for the first time in 20 years, nurses, nurse leaders, and nursing associations are advocating for much-needed funding for nursing education. Increased funding is essential to expand academic capacity as well as the availability of qualified faculty.

Nurses make a difference in all sorts of legislative, policy, and societal issues throughout the country; beyond their immediate roles in caring for patients and families. Opportunities for nurse involvement at the community level are expanding as the collective expertise and contributions of the nursing profession are nationally recognized.

We've put together resources to help nurses and nursing leaders find ways to engage with the communities they serve.

• The case for cultural humility
• How Hurley Medical Center is tackling food insecurity to improve community health
• Community advisory boards
• How Rush incorporated SDOH into patient care