Skip to main content

Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care

  • 9th Edition - November 12, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Diana J. Mason, Elizabeth Dickson, Adriana Perez, Monica R. McLemore
  • Language: English

Learn how to influence policy and become a leader in today's changing health care environment! Featuring analysis of cutting-edge healthcare issues and first-person insights,… Read more

Purchase options

Description

Learn how to influence policy and become a leader in today's changing health care environment! Featuring analysis of cutting-edge healthcare issues and first-person insights, Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care, 9th Edition, continues to be the leading text on nursing action and activism. Approximately 130 expert contributors present a wide range of topics in policy and politics, providing a more comprehensive background than any other policy textbook on the market. This expanded 9th edition helps you develop a global understanding of nursing leadership and political activism, as well as the complex business and financial issues that drive many actions in the health system. Discussions include the latest updates on reproductive rights, medical cannabis, racism, health disparities, human trafficking, and working with communities for change. With these innovative insights and strategies, you will be prepared to play a leadership role in the four spheres in which nurses are politically active: the workplace, government, professional organizations, and the community.

Key features

  • Expert contributors make up a virtual nursing Who's Who in healthcare policy, sharing information and personal perspectives gained in the crafting of healthcare policy and providing evidence-based content on health policy and its political environs
  • Comprehensive coverage of healthcare policies and politics provides a broader understanding of nursing leadership and political activism, as well as the complex business and financial issues that drive many actions in health systems
  • Taking Action essays include personal accounts of how nurses came to be active in politics and what they have accomplished, providing encouragement to fulfill nursing’s role in the determination of healthcare policy and become effective policymakers and advisors
  • Discussion questions at the end of chapters help guide the application of the content and reinforce learning

Readership

Students in undergraduate & graduate nursing courses in health policy and politics

Table of contents

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO POLICY AND POLITICS IN NURSING AND HEALTH CARE

1. Frameworks for Action in Policy and Politics

2. A Historical Perspective on Policy, Politics, and Nursing

3. Health Equity and Policy

4. Learning the Ropes of Policy and Politics

5. TAKING ACTION: Learning Policy Through Fellowship and Scholar Programs

6. TAKING ACTION: Just Say Yes: Learning to Move Beyond the Fear

7. Advocacy in Nursing and Health Care

8. TAKING ACTION: DNPS of Color

9. A Primer on Political Philosophy

10. Policy Science Frameworks

11. Political Analysis and Strategies: Striving for Equity

12. Communication and Conflict Management in Health Policy

13. Research as a Strategic Tool in Politics and Policymaking

14. Using the Power of the Media to Influence Health Policy and Politics

15. Health Policy, Politics, and Professional Ethics

UNIT 2: HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AND FINANCING

16. The Changing United States Health Care System

17. A Primer on Health Economics

18. Financing Health Care in the United States

19. Quality and Safety in Healthcare: Policy Issues

20. Patient Engagement and Public Policy

21. Public and Population Health: Promoting the Health of the Public

22. Care Coordination and Community-Based Care

23. The Current and Future State of Primary Care

24. Using Research to Advance Health and Social Policies for Children

25. TAKING ACTION: School Nursing and School Health Policy

26. The Power of Collective Impact: Content Experts Stand Up Against Short-Sighted Child Sexual Abuse Legislation

27. Stigma and the Opioid Epidemic: Scope, Impact, and Policy Implications

28. Policy and Politics of Nursing and Healthcare in American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

29. Reproductive Health Policy

30. Improving LGBTQIA Health: Nursing Policy Can Make a Difference

31. Palliative Care and Hospice Policy

32. The Politics and Policy of Disaster Response and Public Health Emergency Preparedness

33. Family Caregiving and Social Policy

34. Long-Term Services and Supports Policy Issues

35. The U.S. Military and Veterans Administration Health Systems: Contemporary Overview and Policy Challenges

UNIT 3: POLICY AND POLITICS IN GOVERNMENT

36. Contemporary Issues in Government

37. How Government Works: What You Need to Know to Influence the Process

38. An Overview of Legislative and Regulatory Process

39. Lobbying Policymakers: Individual and Collective Strategies

40. TAKING ACTION: From Idea to Action

41. Campaigning and Electioneering: Running for Office

42. TAKING ACTION: My Run for Office Against the Odds

43. Political Appointments

44. Shaping Policy Through Litigation: The Courts and Health Policy

45. Demystifying Amicus Briefs, Expert Testimony, and Working with Attorneys

46. Nursing Licensure and Regulations

UNIT 4: POLICY AND POLITICS IN THE WORKPLACE AND WORKFORCE

47. Policy and Politics in Health Care Organizations

48. Politics and Evidence-Based Practice and Policy

49. Policy and Politics in Nursing Education and Academia

50. The Contemporary Workplace for Nurses

51. The Nursing Workforce

52. Rural Health Care: Workforce Challenges and Opportunities

53. Nurse Staffing Ratios: Policy Options

54. Collective Strategies for Change in the Workplace

55. TAKING ACTION: Racism in the Workplace

56. Political Context of Advanced Practice Nursing

57. TAKING ACTION: Full Practice Authority: A Tale of Two States Across Time and Culture

58. TAKING ACTION: Never Underestimate the Power of a Personal Story

59. Artificial Intelligence in Nursing and Health Care

UNIT 5: POLICY AND POLITICS IN ASSOCIATIONS AND INTEREST GROUPS

60. Interest Group in Health Care Policy and Politics

61. Policy Issues in Nursing Associations

62. TAKING ACTION: Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Promoting Environmental Health

63. Coalitions: A Powerful Political Strategy

64. Not on My Watch: A Collaborative Effort to Improve Maternal Health in Georgia, USA

UNIT 6: POLICY AND POLITICS IN THE COMMUNITY

65. Where Policy Hits the Pavement: Contemporary Issues in Communities

66. An Introduction to Community Activism

67. TAKING ACTION: Activism: A Community Rises — Lucinda's House

68. TAKING ACTION: Creating a Social Justice Organization — as a Nurse and a Jew

69. TAKING ACTION: Think Globally, Act Locally

70. TAKING ACTION: Housing and Health: A Personal and Professional Story

71. Community Engagement in Linking Nursing to Policy: Application to Addressing Inequities in Latino Behavioral/Mental Health and Maternal Health

72. Family and Sexual Violence: Nursing and U.S. Policy

73. Gun Violence

74. International Health and Nursing Policy and Politics Today: A Snapshot

75. Infectious Disease: A Global Perspective

76. Human Trafficking: The Need for Nursing Advocacy

77. Improve Health Through Board Service: Include Your Voice

78. TAKING ACTION: The Policy and Politics of Advocating for Medicinal Cannabis Use

79. Climate Change

80. TAKING ACTION: Migrant Farmworkers: Confronting Aging and Violence Against Women in the Fields

81. Health Equity in Small Island Developing States

82. A Call for Peace: Nursing in Times of Global Conflict

Epilogue

Product details

  • Edition: 9
  • Latest edition
  • Published: November 12, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

DM

Diana J. Mason

Affiliations and expertise
Senior Policy Service Professor, Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement, George Washington University School of Nursing Programme Director, International Council of Nurses, Global Nursing Leadership Institute,Professor Emerita,Hunter College, City University of New York,New York, New York

ED

Elizabeth Dickson

Affiliations and expertise
Assistant Professor,College of Nursing,University of New Mexico,Albuquerque, New Mexico,MS09 5350, 1 University of New MexicoAlbuquerque

AP

Adriana Perez

Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor of Nursing,Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics,University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,Claire M. Fagin Hall

MM

Monica R. McLemore

Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor, Family Health Care Nursing; Clinician-Scientist, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California