About Advocacy
Advocacy is at the heart of nursing practice. Beyond bedside care, nurses play a critical role in shaping healthcare systems, influencing policy, and speaking up for patients, communities, and the profession itself. By engaging in advocacy, nurses ensure that their voices, grounded in real-world experience and clinical expertise, help drive meaningful change at local, state, and national levels.
Advocacy as a Pillar of Nursing Leadership
Advocacy is defined in the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics as the “act or process of pleading for, supporting, or recommending a cause or course of action. Advocacy may be for persons (whether as an individual, group, population, or society) or for an issue.”
The American Nurses Association “believes that advocacy is a pillar of nursing. Nurses instinctively advocate for their patients, in their workplaces, and in their communities; but legislative and political advocacy is no less important to advancing the profession and patient care.”
The Cadmus Leadership Model of Advocacy, named after former NJCCN Executive Director, Dr. Edna Cadmus, proposes a advocacy model inspired by the leadership qualities she demonstrated in her policy advocacy role.
There are many ways for nurses to get involved in policy advocacy, for example at the state level, they can:
- Stay aware of the current bills related to healthcare/nursing by visiting this website or the New Jersey Legislature page. Here you can search for bills, review committee members, check the legislative schedule, and access recording proceedings. It also contains resources on the NJ lawmaking process, such as how a bill becomes a law and an overview to the legislative process.
- Educate the legislators in their district about an important healthcare or nursing-specific issue. Nurses can reach out to a legislator in-person, by e-mail, a webform, phone, or even social media.
- Testify at the statehouse when a bill of interest is up for discussion. Check out the special two-part podcast episode of NJ Nursing Insights below where this is explored.
It is easy to search for your Legislator. You can search by alphabetical list, municipality, or legislative district here.
Once you have selected your representative, you can electronically correspond with your representative using this option.
Nurse State Policy Advocacy: Your Voice, Your Impact (Part 1)
This special video episode of NJCCN’s NJ Nursing Insights podcast on political advocacy and state-level testimony was recorded in a committee room at the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton in October 2025 and is hosted by Dr. Susan Weaver, Nurse Scientist, NJCCN.
Expert Panelists:
- Dr. Marcel Kaganovskaya, APN and President of the Society of Psychiatric APNs, and Assistant Professor at Felician University School of Nursing
- Tyla Minniear, Chief Operating Officer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute
- Rose M. Catton, Executive Director of the New Jersey State School Nurses Association
Nurse State Policy Advocacy: Your Voice, Your Impact (Part 2)
The second part of the podcast includes questions from Rutgers nursing students.
How A Bill Becomes Law
There are many steps for a bill to become a law. This link will guide you through the steps necessary to turn a bill into a law in New Jersey. For more information, go to https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/legprocess.asp
Find Your Legislator
It is easy to search for your Legislator. You can search by alphabetical list, municipality, or legislative district here.
Once you have selected your representative, you can electronically correspond with your representative using this option.