Arabi Akram, Rafii Forough, Cheraghi Mohammad Ali, Ghiyasvandian Shahrzad
Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran, Iran.
Center for Nursing Care Research, Tehran, Iran.
Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014 May;19(3):315-22.
Nurses' influence on health policy protects the quality of care by access to required recourses and opportunities. This is a new and important concept for nursing; however, research studies on policy influence of nurses in health care sector are lacking a basic conceptual understanding of what this concept represents. The aim of this paper is to clarify the concept of nurses' policy influence and to propose the definition of this concept, considering the context of Iran.
The eight stages of Walker and Avant approach was used to guide this concept analysis. Various databases and internet engines were searched to find all related information about the concept. Textbooks were also searched manually. English language literature reports published between 1990 and 2012 were reviewed.
Based on the analysis undertaken, nurses' policy influence is nurses' ability in influencing decisions and affairs related to health through political knowledge, effective communication, and collaboration with other members of the health team, which results in the improvement of nurses' job environment and increases patient outcomes. This is a dynamic process situated on a spectrum and is accompanied with nurses' knowledge, competency, power, and advocacy, and also their ability to change.
Nurses have individual views on health care issues and influence health care policies in different ways. With a common understanding of nurses' policy influence as a concept, nurses will recognize the importance of policy making in the health sector and their influence on this process and also on patients' outcomes.
护士对卫生政策的影响通过获取所需资源和机会来保障护理质量。这对护理专业而言是一个全新且重要的概念；然而，关于医疗保健领域护士政策影响力的研究缺乏对这一概念所代表内容的基本概念性理解。本文旨在阐明护士政策影响力的概念，并结合伊朗的背景情况提出这一概念的定义。
采用沃克和阿凡特方法的八个阶段来指导该概念分析。检索了各种数据库和互联网引擎以查找关于该概念的所有相关信息。还手动检索了教科书。对1990年至2012年间发表的英文文献报告进行了综述。
基于所进行的分析，护士政策影响力是护士通过政治知识、有效沟通以及与医疗团队其他成员协作来影响与健康相关的决策和事务的能力，这会改善护士的工作环境并提高患者的治疗效果。这是一个处于连续统一体上的动态过程，伴随着护士的知识、能力、权力、倡导以及他们的变革能力。
护士对医疗保健问题有各自的看法，并以不同方式影响医疗保健政策。对护士政策影响力这一概念达成共同理解后，护士将认识到卫生部门政策制定的重要性以及他们对这一过程和患者治疗效果的影响。
