Political Astuteness in Tennessee Nurse Practitioners: Strategies to Inform

Abstract

Political astuteness among nurse practitioners practicing in states like Tennessee with practice restrictions needs evaluation to promote policy and scope of practice change to increase access to quality healthcare in rural and underserved areas to decrease healthcare disparities in vulnerable populations. There is a scant amount of literature that specifically addresses political astuteness in nurse practitioners. The purpose of this project is to assess and provide strategies to inform nurse practitioners on political astuteness and activity. A cross sectional survey included the administration of an online version of the Political Astuteness Inventory (PAI), compared results with the demographic questions to establish political astuteness strengths and weaknesses. The PAI is a self-assessment tool created by P.E. Clark in 1981 and used in multiple studies that reveals increased political astuteness following policy related educational activities. A Framework for Action provided the conceptual and theoretical framework to integrate the baseline assessment of political astuteness in nurse practitioners in Tennessee to strategize ways to inform nurse practitioners to increase political astuteness and activity.