Nursing's agenda for health care reform: policy, politics, and power through professional leadership.

This article is an eye witness account of nursing's participation in the health care reform debate from 1991 to 1994. In that debate, the nursing profession achieved high visibility and recognition for the cogency of its policy positions as developed in Nursing's Agenda for Health Care Reform and for its united voice through the leadership of the American Nurses Association, the Tricouncil for Nursing, and the Nursing Organization Liaison Forum. While comprehensive health care reform failed to pass the 103rd Congress, nursing and nurses gained much in the process of their participation.