ONE ANP’S IMPACT ON PUBLIC POLICY
This APN took the principles of beneficence, justice,
and equality from the ANA Code of Ethics and put
them into action. The following narrative outlines
the process of building upon nursing knowledge,
experience, ethical principles, and relevant published
literature to create a new piece of evidence-based
mental health policy. The outlined process is presented
as a model to guide APNs in the process of
policy creation at local, state, or national levels and
can be adapted to a variety of health needs and
populations. Steps involved in this process include:
identification of a health problem or gap in service; a
thorough review of published literature; creation of a
brief oral and written synopsis of the issue with
support from published literature; meeting with
policymakers or stakeholders interested in this issue;
and volunteering to author a policy that will improve
the identified health issue
For this APN, decades of clinical practice as both a
nurse-midwife and nurse practitioner has created a passion
for women’s health care issues. It has long been a
personal curiosity that mental health care services and
primary health care services are “siloed” into separate
agencies, buildings, and geographic locations. This APN
has often wondered why so many women who were
clearly suffering from symptoms of depression in the
perinatal period were either ignored or referredto mental
health services in another location and often failed to
follow up with scheduled appointments. Multiple barriers
to care, such as geographic limitations, transportation
difficulties, lack of services, social stigma
surrounding mental health careservices, and fear of losing
custody of children if services are sought, are factors that
contribute to gaps in perinatal mental health services.