The four spheres of political action in nursing come from the minds of Mason, Leavitt & Chaffee’s conceptual framework that lists them as the workplace, the government, professional organizations and the community. The Cohen model assists in describing the four spheres of political action relevant to nursing. Cohen states that “this political awakening of nursing has included a recognition of the importance of health policy in nursing curricula,” signifying a change in the way that prospective nurses are being educated. Cohen’s model proposes four stages: buy-in, self-interest, political sophistication and leading the way. The buy-in stage, as described by Cooksey-James et al (2016), is a “reactive stage” that occurs when nurses are made aware of the political climate and knowledge needed to address different policy changes, adjustments and injustices and taking political action.
The buy-in stage focuses on the issues that had, have or will have an indelible effect on the profession and how nurses perform their work. The self-interest stage gets nurses to narrow down specific issues that are important to his or her area of practice rather than the broad area of nursing. Political sophistication is the stage in which nurses realize their role as a health care expert, connection with policymakers and leaders to assist in their political activism, getting appointed to boards and appealing to legislators. Finally, leading the way is where the nurses set the agenda for change and is “the initiator of crucial policy development,” directing the dialogue and moving past the nursing profession.
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Working in a medical surgical unit, these spheres overlap if a worker decided to get involved in the cause of medical malpractice. When there is this lack of care and skill being given to a patient, in can result in death. A nurse working in a surgical unit can advocate for or against liability insurance, which protects healthcare providers for bearing defense costs in the event of a malpractice suit, for which legal services can run tens of thousands of dollars.
- Arabi, A., Rafii, F., Cheraghi, M. A., & Ghiyasvandian, S. (2014). Nurses’ policy influence: A concept analysis. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 19(3), 315–322.
- Cooksey-James, T., Salman, A., Lee, Y. (2016). Using Theory to Organize Nursing Political Action Plans [PowerPoint]. Retrieved from http://www.nursinglibrary.org/
