Overview

This assignment will provide you with the opportunity to practice influencing policy by communicating with a legislator about a current health problem. The letter should be in block format for a business letter, the letter may be more than one page. You do need to support with evidence. Cite your sources and include a reference page at the end of your letter. Follow the assignment directions and review the rubric. You can view samples for formatting a business letter on the following link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/2/

In addition some helpful links on how to formulate a letter to your legislator may be found

https://www.ncsbn.org/APRN_formletter_Legislator_web.pdf

http://www.nea.org/home/19657.htm

Follow the steps below to write a letter advocating for change, go to for an example:

1. Select a current health problem that is being debated at the national and/or state level (e.g., the proliferation of “pill mills”, pain clinics, etc) and state why it is of interest. Be sure to research your problem. I would like to use the use of pain medication use in our society as my topic for this letter 
2. Identify a legislator (state or federal) and state why that person is the appropriate one to contact, you will show why this is right person to contact based on the supporting data you provided in your letter.
3. Draft a letter to the legislator in business block format including the proper salutation.
4. Introduce yourself and your reason for writing.Include the following in the body of your letter:
5. Introduce yourself and your reason for writing.
6. State concisely what you understand to be the current socioeconomic, political, and ethical issues surrounding the problem. You must have supporting data (include citations).
7. Discuss the implications of the problem for your community, nursing or nursing practice.
8. Make a clear request for action. You must have supporting data (include citations).
9. Request a response.
10. Include a reference page beginning on the page following the end of the letter, also include citations in the body of your letter. At least three references are required.

Objectives

• Explain how values and politics shape health policy.
• Identify the components of political skill and the implications for nurses.

References

Minimum of three (3) total references: one (1) reference from required course materials and two (2) peer-reviewed references. All references must be no older than five years (unless making a specific point using a seminal piece of information)

Peer-reviewed references include references from professional data bases such as PubMed or CINHAL applicable to population and practice area, along with evidence based clinical practice guidelines. Examples of unacceptable references are Wikipedia, UpToDate, Epocrates, Medscape, WebMD, hospital organizations, insurance recommendations, & secondary clinical databases.

Additional information:

You will also be writing a letter to your legislator regarding a current health problem. Research the selected legislator to ascertain their influence/involvement in the topic you selected. The letter should be in block format for a business letter. You do need to support with evidence. Cite your sources and include a reference page following your letter. Follow the assignment directions and review the rubric. You can view samples for formatting a business letter on the following link. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/2/ . Always refer to your legislator as “The Honorable (Name)” in addressing the envelope and the letter. In the salutation, write: “Dear Senator,” “Dear Congressman,” “Dear Congresswoman,” “Dear Representative,” “Dear Assemblyman,” or “Dear Assemblywoman, so your message doesn’t look like junk mail.

References-

References should be no more that 5-7 years old.

Always use the doi for journal articles instead of a URL as those can change. Most recent articles will have a doi. However, some do not. If necessary, use crossref.org to search for a doi. The URL for the library search does not take us directly to the article and should not be used as a retrieval statement. Again, if a doi is not found use the journal homepage URL.