History identifies a number of influential nursing professionals that strongly advocated for social justice and inclusion of marginalized people into the health care system. Some of these influential nurses include Nightingale, Sanger and others. Presently, the most prevalent minority group consists of the LGBTQ community. Hence, nurses have a role to play in ensuring bringing to visibility the poor treatment of LGBTQ in the health care setting so that necessary improvements can be made. The AACN MSN Essentials provides eight different types of competencies that influence nurses prepared at various degree levels (CDC, 2018). The paper describes three political actions that nurses can take to strengthen their advocacy for LGBT groups, especially the ones related to AACN MSN essential on organizational and system leadership for quality improvement and systems thinking.
Nurses should create mechanisms that foster high levels of collaboration and communication with the LGBT. To make the above political action possible nurses should be educated on proper use of gender neutral language, always refrain from assuming a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation by always asking the patients about their gender identity or sexual orientation, registering with the LGBT medical associations and having LGBT-friendly symbols displayed in their premises (American Public Health Association. 2016). LGBT inclusivity in nursing education is another political milestone should be accomplished within the shortest time possible. Currently, the LGBT health is a high evolving field; numerous providers are not familiar with the protocols, terminologies and recommendation of offering quality health care (Eliason, et al., 2011). Thus, availability of a competent faculty and an integrated curriculum on LGBT issues would culminate to proper training of nurses and provision of quality healthcare for LGBT individuals.
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Last, appropriation of funds and covering of medical expenditures resulting from LGBT health disparities would play a huge role in improving healthcare for the LGBTs (Martos, Wilson & Meyer, 2017). For example, nurses should make necessary submission to responsible authorities for funding and reimbursement of care offered by LGBT health clinics.
References
American Public Health Association. (2016). Promoting transgender and gender minority health through inclusive policies and practices. Policy , (20169).
CDC. (2018). About LGBT Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/about.htm
Eliason, M. J., DeJoseph, J., Dibble, S., Deevey, S., & Chinn, P. (2011). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning nurses' experiences in the workplace. Journal of Professional Nursing , 27 (4), 237-244.
Martos, A. J., Wilson, P. A., & Meyer, I. H. (2017). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health services in the United States: Origins, evolution, and contemporary landscape. PloS one , 12 (7), e0180544.
