Nursing is Political: Raising Awareness About Nurses Influencing Change

Nurses have a responsibility to work with others on the social determinants of health – income and its distribution, housing, food security and education, just to name a few. These factors are largely a result of policies at provincial and federal levels. Assistant Professor Dr. Jennifer Kryworuchko hopes to help educate students about their potential role in politics. “Every nursing student at the University of Saskatchewan should know how to participate in a healthy democracy and engage in change at a political level. Many nursing students have a clear focus and understanding of individual health, but most have not been exposed to their role of advocacy and the political agenda.”

Kryworuchko and colleagues at the College of Nursing organized a series of classroom discussions in Saskatoon with members of four different political parties designed to inspire conversation about Registered Nurses’ political engagement. The students were asked to think about questions in advance and encouraged to ask each representative for their perspectives on the connection between health and politics. “Poor health is a reality for many Canadians, not because of poor choices, but because of the conditions in which they live and work,” says Assistant Professor Dr. Wanda Martin. “We are hoping to improve these conditions, by focusing attention on improving resources to address the conditions that contribute to poor health.” Some of the topics covered in the discussions included homelessness, food security, palliative care, assisted suicide, health education and the privatization of heath care. One student commented afterwards, “I enjoyed the overview of the Canadian political system. As students, we have varying levels of understanding. One of the take-away points that really resonated with me was that government can’t do it all; individuals need to be involved. I can be one of those individuals.”

Sheri Benson (New Democratic Party) started the series off in a presentation to fourth year students studying Issues in Leadership and Management.  She emphasized building programs and policies based on demographics. “A good place to start is with the most vulnerable,” said Ms. Benson, whose experience as a social worker in our community gives her valuable practical experience in Saskatoon. She suggested that long term investments were needed to provide services, including healthcare, in peoples’ homes to prevent expensive hospital based services.

Brad Trost (Conservative Party), engaged a group of fourth year students studying Community Healthin a great overview of the Canadian political system. He inspired students with a call to action for all community members to volunteer their time and talent. He emphasized the importance of health education and students reminded him of the importance of social determinants of health, saying “What about income; social assistance – income is the greatest determinant of health for Canadians?”.

Mark Bigland-Pritchard (Green Party), spoke to third year students studying Chronicity and Aging. One student commented, “What stood out for me was the Green Party’s consideration of a country’s wellbeing to show how well a country is doing, as opposed to just looking at GDP.” Bigland-Pritchard discussed a broad set of issues, including global warming, equal income distribution, housing and poverty, taxing junk food, education and employment initiatives for young adults and improving participation of Indigenous people in determining solutions to meeting their needs. With a strong background and connection to the energy industry, he focused on these issues, yet was willing to explore issues important to the nursing students who were intently quizzing him during the session.

Finally, Tracy Muggli (Liberal Party), addressed second year students studying Perspectives on Health, Wellness and Diversity in a Global Context, as well as graduate students in the Master of Nursing and PhD programs. Muggli explained that anything that happens to you is probably connected to politics somehow: “The personal is political”. As a result, each political decision creates the conditions for living in a society. She reminded students that everyone has a right to express ideas and concerns and they deserve the right to have their opinions heard. She problematized the growing gap between rich and poor, which results in a less healthy society. She pointed to evidence that equally distributed money creates a healthier society. Muggli suggested we should plan for solutions that use less crisis, last minute interventions and emergency health care; rather advocated spending on proactive health promotion, and listening for solutions to obvious problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder and improved Veterans health.

“One of the goals of putting this panel series together was to encourage the students to think about the influence that health professionals, in particular Registered Nurses, can have on politics,” said Kryworuchko. “Overall, we were extremely pleased with the series and felt the students were left with an increased understanding of being engaged in political discussions. We hope they will feel more comfortable to engage in politics when the next federal election is announced.”