Background: Nurses contribution in health policies making ensures that the health care is effective, reachable, and reasonable. Since nurses are the first users of health policies, they should have an active role in its formulation. Since there are no studies in Egypt to shed light on nurses' involvement in health policy making, benefits and barriers related to their participation. We have selected this study to examine health policy involvement and perceived benefits and barriers among Egyptian nurses.
Materials and Methods
A quantitative, descriptive research design was used. . The study was conducted in three health care sectors (one private hospital, one governmental hospital, and one university-affiliated hospital) of health system in the Delta region of Egypt. A convenience sample of 270 nurses was participated in this study. Involvement in health policy instrument was used.
Results: The majority of nurses (90.4 %, 77.8 %) had a low level of involvement in health policy making as a profession and as a citizens. The most frequently health policy activities reported by nurses were related to nurse voted for a candidate or health policy proposal and provided health policy-related information to consumers or other professionals. The most perceived benefits of involvement in health policy activities were related to improve a situation or issue, improving the health of the public and being able to get involved/participate (75.2%, 73.7% and 73.7%) respectively. The most perceived barriers of involvement in health policy were related to lack of support from others, do not know how to access information, then policy makers’ attitudes/values (81.9%, 71.5% and 61.9%) respectively.
Conclusion: Nurses had a low involvement level in health policy making as a profession and as citizens.
Implications for nursing: Enhance nurses' involvement in health policy making through Egyptian nurse leaders; working on the barriers that impede nurses’ participation in health policy making; encourage nurses to provide insightful health policy-making suggestions; education institutions should providing information regarding health-care policies and laws; fostering a favorable attitude about nursing profession, increase awareness of the importance of health-care policy making and hold workshops about health policy process. |
