“Coming into this course, I didn’t fully understand how policy and nursing intertwined,” says Laura Vergenz, BSN, RN.
Now, she sees “how engaging in advocacy, whether at the local, state, national, or international level, is part of our role as nurses. … Advocacy leverages the nursing perspective to support healthy systems and healthy communities.”
Vergenz is a graduate student in the systems leadership and innovation track of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Last semester, she took the Health Policy Practicum course, during which students gain policy experience by working with an agency or institution.
For her course placement, Vergenz turned to a group she knows well: the Center for Aging Research and Education (CARE). As an undergraduate nursing student, she worked on a CARE project to develop an online transition-to-practice program for nurses entering long-term care, now called Geri-Res.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time working with CARE,” says Vergenz. “That’s what spurred my interest in older adults. As an undergraduate, CARE opened my eyes to the spectrum of what nurses can do—how we can support other nurses and how we can connect with communities, older adults, and caregivers. CARE gave me an overarching perspective that supplemented what I was learning in my courses.”
“It’s been great to come full circle and interact with CARE again as a graduate student,” she adds. “It’s a supportive environment to grow as a nurse and expand my professional identity and my perspective on the profession itself.”
For the policy practicum, CARE connected Vergenz with aging advocacy leaders and suggested she map CARE Affiliates’ research areas to relevant state and federal policies.
The project made clear “how research supports or could inform policies at the state and federal levels,” says Vergenz. “CARE Affiliates are doing great research in priority areas for older adults. Connecting that research to the impact of current policies or the potential to inform future legislation was deeply informative.”
Aging in place stood out to Vergenz, because of “the strong data backing these initiatives,” she says. “Home- and community-based services can deliver wide-ranging benefits, including lowering healthcare costs, supporting caregivers, reducing the risk of falls, and improving overall health outcomes. Everything is connected to giving older adults and their caregivers the tools to age the way that they want to.”
While the course deepened Vergenz’s understanding of policy work, she is an experienced advocate.
“I’ve been doing advocacy work for pediatric to adult care transition programs, for patients with long-term health concerns,” says Vergenz. “I’ve had Crohn’s disease since I was 10 years old. I’ve learned to weave personal narrative into what the data shows. By integrating that personal side, but also showing legislators the general trends, you make the information you’re sharing more impactful.”
After graduating this spring, “I hope to take all that I’ve learned in my DNP program and pursue nursing education,” says Vergenz. “Supporting future generations of nurses to become confident, competent, and successful in practice, especially for diverse and aging populations.”
As an educator, Vergenz would encourage students to “dive into policy early on and make connections with the topics they’re focused on. It could be acute care, long-term care, or public health. Give students the tools to navigate policy, to see that it is an integral part of nursing, and to appreciate the unique perspective that nursing can bring to policy work.”
“No matter what your interests are, there is a spot for you in advocacy,” she says.
–Diane Farsetta