GW Nursing Magazine Spring 2017

ADVOCATING POLICY
“Including nurses’ voices
at all health-related
policy- and decisionmaking
tables is crucial
if we’re to improve the
health of the nation.”
— Dr. Diana Mason
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change,
Advancing Health,” urged nurses to become health program and policy
spokespersons and to build strong relationships with the news media, from
reporters and editors to podcasters and bloggers. That is precisely what GW
Nursing’s Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement is all about.
The center, led by Executive Director Mary Jean Schumann, is poised to amplify
the school’s voice and enable faculty and students to better share policy and
health information with the public, the media and policy influencers.
Dr. Schumann is joined by two co-directors—Dr. Diana Mason and Ms. Barbara
Glickstein, who bring years of policy experience to the center. For Dr. Mason,
the relocation of the center from New York City to Washington, D.C., provides
a “great opportunity to take the lead in health policy in the very town where
national policy is made and state policy is influenced.” Ms. Glickstein adds that
it will serve “to position nurses as media experts in their fields to impact health
and health policy through multiple media platforms, hold media accountable to
include nurses in reporting and deliver nursing’s message to the public and key
policymakers.”
At the center, nursing faculty and students will learn to explain complex research
or policy by putting a face on the issue or telling its story in ways that capture
the interest of the public, media and policymakers. Visiting scholars will help
participants hone social media and mass media communication skills. The
school’s unique mix of distance- and on-site learning, fellowships and hands-on
experience will take the work to a practical level, providing an incubator for
nurturing new policy-savvy and articulate nurse communicators.
“The center is a place to learn new ways of messaging and how to take
those messages to people with whom nurses don’t routinely interact,” says
Dr. Schumann, adding that communication skills and media acumen will give
nurses nationwide a growing, better-respected voice and presence at the
policymaking table.
a mandate and a legacy of which to be
mindful and proud. It’s a history of
advancing community-based, public health
care that is coming full circle. Including
nurses’ voices at all health-related policyand
decision-making tables is crucial if
we’re to improve the health of the nation.”
Barbara Glickstein, a nurse, journalist
and media expert, has also joined the
center as a co-director. She advocates for
nurses acquiring the skills necessary for
effective public communication. “Media
training can give nurses the confidence
and tools they need to be proactive in
shaping policy,” she says.
Dr. Jeffries, Dr. Schumann,
Dr. Mason and Ms. Glickstein agree
that nurses now must not only be even
better educated but also supported
through mechanisms such as the new
center to influence high-level policy
proactively, openly and frequently. They
cite the words of former surgeon general
and former nurse Richard Carmona:
“Working together, learning the ropes of
policy and politics, and mentoring others,
…[nurses] can change the future of the
nation’s health.”
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