(Week 3) Assignment 2: Health Policy
Proposal Analysis (Policy Brief)
Nurses engaged in the policy arena often are asked to provide information on a health
care topic of interest to policy makers. This is frequently accomplished through
developing a policy brief. A policy brief advocates for a particular recommendation (prior
to the enactment of a policy). Learning how to write a policy brief in a clear, succinct,
scholarly, and professional manner is an essential skill for advanced practice nurses.
For this Assignment, you will assess one of the recommendations from the Institute of
Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health: Report
Recommendations. You will then develop a policy brief to advocate for this
recommendation (the written policy brief is due in Week 7).
To prepare:
● Review the Lavis et al. article on preparing and writing policy briefs provided in
the Learning Resources.
● Select one of the recommendations within the IOM The Future of Nursing:
Leading Change, Advancing Health: Report Recommendations to focus on for
this assignment.
● Research the history of the problem behind the recommendation and what has
been done to try to solve the problem.
● What does the recommendation say should be done? Are there any groups,
nursing and others, currently supporting work to implement the recommendation
(e.g., Kaiser Family Foundation, professional organizations)? Does the
recommendation suggest specific groups that should be involved in the
implementation? Think critically about how the recommendation should be
implemented – did the IOM get it right? What other strategies are possible to
consider?
By Day 7 of Week 7
To complete:
● Develop a scholarly and professionally written 2- to 3-page single-spaced policy
brief on the recommendation you selected from the IOM report following the
format presented in the Lavis et al. article. Include the following:
○ Short introduction with statement of the problem.
○ The selected recommendation (from the IOM Report)
○ Background
○ Current characteristics
○ The impact of the recommendation from the perspective of consumers,
nurses, other health professionals, and additional stakeholders
○ Current solutions
○ Current status in the health policy arena
○ Final conclusions
○ Resources used to create the policy brief
