Legislative Letter

Legislator Letter Assignment

 

In order to effectively lobby for or against an issue of concern, the professional nurse must be able to be perceived as informed, professional and politically aware. This assignment is intended to help the student sharpen those skills and perhaps even make an actual change in her community.

General Instructions for Legislative Letter 

Each student will choose an issue of concern to them or their community that is in an obvious way connected to health care. Possibilities include, but are not limited to staffing levels of RNs in various facilities, health education in schools, tobacco cessation campaign efforts, injury prevention, licensure or RNs or maintaining the oversight of nursing practice with the Board of Nursing rather than the Board of Medicine.  

 

Students will draft a formal letter  that is intended to be sent to their district legislator  (please DO NOT choose a US Senator - letters addressed to a US Senator or State Governor will lose credit). The letter will be submitted via the "Assignments" section of the course by the due date listed in the course schedule. Please submit the letter as an attachment to preserve the formatting.

You don't need to include citations in your letter  but you should include facts/figures to support your ideas.  For example:  if you were writing about the need for children to have physical education in schools you might say "According to the American Academy of Pediatrics children should be involved in physical activities on a daily basis."  

 

While it is not expected that these letters actually be mailed, 1 point of extra credit will be awarded to the student for the presentation of a response from the addressee providing he or she is the appropriate recipient. Responses must be scanned and sent to the instructor via course mail no later than the last day of class. (This does not include finals week.)

 

Students should indicate in the letter that they are writing as an RN, student of nursing or as an individual citizen but MUST NOT state that they are writing the letter as a UCF course assignment. If needed please review how to properly write a formal letter.  This is important to make sure you are writing in the proper format.