Letter to the Editor: Population Health Policy Advocacy

Develop a letter to the editor of a peer-reviewed academic or professional nursing journal based on the policy proposal that you created for Assessment 2. (PATIENT ENGAGEMENT IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS) Choose from one of the journals on the Ultimate List of Nursing Journals  (GERIATRIC NURSING JOURNAL)and go to that journals Web site to find out the requirements for submitting a letter to the editor, such as format requirements, topics, and word counts. Make sure you select a nursing journal that covers the topic about which you are going to write. If you want to use another journal that is not on this list, please make sure the journal does address health care, because this is the purpose of the assessment.

The goal of your letter is to be informative about the policy that you developed for Assessment 2, while also being persuasive about the need for and benefit of similar policies in other health care settings. The bullet points below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Be sure that your submission addresses all of them. You may also want to read the Letter to the Editor: Population Health Policy Advocacy Scoring Guide and Guiding Questions: Letter to the Editor: Population Health Policy Advocacy [DOC] document to better understand how each grading criterion will be assessed.

• Evaluate the current state of the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population.
  • Look back to the data or scenario you used in Assessment 1 to address this criterion.
• Analyze how the current state of the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population necessitates health policy development and advocacy.
• Justify why a developed policy will be vital in improving the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population.
• Advocate for policy development in other care settings with regard to a specific issue in a target population.
• Analyze the ways in which interprofessional aspects of a developed policy will support efficient and effective achievement of desired outcomes for the target population.
• Communicate in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style (or the journal’s preferred style).

Example Assessment: You may use the assessment example, linked in the Assessment Example section of the Resources, to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like.

Additional Requirements

The submission requirements for your editorial will depend on the journal you choose. To find out the requirements, go to the journal’s Web site. There should be a section regarding submissions that will address how to format letters to the editor, and whether there is a word count limit (there usually is a limit).

• If the journal does not have submission guidelines for the number of resources required, use 3-5 sources.
• To be sure that your instructor knows the submission and formatting requirements for your letter, include the journal’s guidelines on a separate page at the end of the document you submit for this assessment.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 1: Design evidence-based advanced nursing care for achieving high-quality population outcomes.
  • Evaluate the current state of the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population.
  • Justify why a developed policy will be vital in improving the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population.
• Competency 2: Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of interprofessional interventions in achieving desired population health outcomes.
  • Analyze the ways in which interprofessional aspects of a developed policy will support efficient and effective achievement of desired outcomes for the target population.
• Competency 3: Analyze population health outcomes in terms of their implications for health policy advocacy.
  • Analyze how the current state of the quality of care and outcomes for a specific issue in a target population necessitates health policy development and advocacy.
  • Advocate for policy development in other care settings with regard to a specific issue in a target population.
• Competency 4: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
  • Communicate in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  • Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.