This document provides guidelines for writing a letter to a local, state, or federal legislator regarding a healthcare issue that affects the nursing profession. The letter should identify the issue being addressed, include facts and statistics to support the writer's position, and emphasize how the issue positively or negatively impacts the legislator's constituents. The letter must be brief, polite, and address a single issue or bill using the correct identifying information. Students are instructed to choose an issue relevant to their location and representative, and to provide sources for any referenced claims.

1. Federal healthcare issue that affects the nursing profession
identify a local, state, or federal healthcare issue that affects the nursing profession. These
issues can be from newspaper articles, publications from ANA, PSNA, AJN,
Nursing2019/2020 & other RN magazines.Identify the individual who is to receive your
letter. You can learn who your state & local legislators are by calling the county office or the
local league of Women voters at 1-800-692-7281. This information can also be found online
at https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/Make sure you choose the correct
“salutation― e.g. though you may begin your letter to a Congressperson with Mr. or
Ms., the letter should include their formal title in the address section to the left above the
salutation. This web site gives you examples:
http://www.formsofaddress.info/Congressman.htmlGuidelines for letter writing:Letter
may be sent electronically according to the guidelines on the legislator’s web site.Your
name & address should be on the letterIdentify yourself as a student nurse & state why your
entry into the profession of Nursing makes this a significant issue for you.Limit your letter
to one subject/issue-if you are referring to a specific bill include the bill numberBe brief.
Limit letter to one page.Be specific. Provide facts & figures to support your views or give
anecdotal data on how your clients or families have been or may be affected.Emphasize the
positive or negative impact if proposed legislation and what the proposed legislation will
mean to the legislator’s constituents in terms of healthcare.Be polite & reasonable. A
positive-sounding letter is usually an effective tool even if you asking the legislator to
oppose a piece of legislation.Letter to be submitted through the assignment Dropbox on
BlackboardHelpful hints for completing the assignment:Make sure you are addressing
YOUR local, state, or federal representativeMake sure you are using the current session bill
number. If a bill does not make it out of committee or is not voted on during the two-year
congressional session it is considered dead. If the bill is reintroduced in the next
congressional session the bill number and/or identifying title will be different. Pay attention
to this! Your letter will not get any attention if you are using an incorrect bill number. In the
past few years students addressing the issue of nurse:patient ratios have used an old bill
number to request help from their legislator. The bill number they are using has been
reassigned to a bill protecting wild salmon for predators! Consider how this looks to the
representative you are addressing.If you are referencing a statistic e.g. lives saved with
lower ratios, provide your reference. In the case of ratios, your reference might be a
published article from a journal. Provide the representative with your source.Make sure you
have addressed each required element.