Nurses working in politics

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Specializes in ED, med-surg, peri op.

I’m starting to think about my future and what my next step in nursing is.

I know I really enjoy rural nursing, and I’m interested in going the NP route, to work in areas that struggle to have a constant providers and access to health care for the community  

However, I’ve always been interested In politics, if I didn’t study nursing that would of been my next choice. Lately I’ve been thinking about it again. Not in terms of being a politician, more working on policy and legislation for health care.

Is that possible as a nurse? Does anyone know anyone that’s done that? Possible to keep a active RN licence in a job like that?  Just don’t know exactly how someone gets into that line of work. 
 

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

You're kind of casting a wide net at this point but if your interest is health policy and healthcare legislation, you 100% have to get a graduate degree in the field.  Your BSN can be a good starting point but in my opinion, the graduate degrees in nursing that we have now would not carry much weight in this field.  I would think more along the lines of an MPH in a reputable institution. 

There are also Master's degrees in health policy and administration...again the program you choose matters if you want to be successful.  It's going to be hard to maintain clinical practice as a nurse and be immersed in the field.  People who work in health policy typically work for non-profits called "health policy think tanks".  These are entities that fund research, publish data, and administer programs that influence healthcare policy and legislation.

The website for NACNS has a list of these non-profits: https://nacns.org/advocacy-policy/advocacy-resources/health-policy-think-tanks/.  If you look at the staff list in those, you may find that some have nursing backgrounds but have advanced degrees in the field.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Hello @EDNURSE20,

To add to @juan de la cruz's great reply, it would be a good idea to first get involved on a state level. Here's a U.S. state interactive map from the American Nurses Association (ANA): https://www.nursingworld.org/membership/find-my-state/

Good luck with your career plans.

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