In an effort to advance education on kidney disease, members of the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association (ANNA) took to Capitol Hill to advocate for the future of their profession and the patients entrusted to their care.

Association leaders and legislative representatives representing ANNA chapters in 28 states participated in the organization’s biannual Health Policy Workshop, held in early June in Washington, D.C. Sandra Bodin, MA, RN, CNN, ANNA president, explained that the meeting is the perfect setting to establish productive relationships with influential members of government.

“It’s a very exciting workshop where everyone learns more about how Congress works, how bills are made and how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other departments are involved,” she said. “We then go to the Hill to lobby and meet our representatives. I would have to say that the most important result is that our members begin to develop a personal relationship with their representatives and their aides, and it’s not a one-time meeting; it’s the beginning of a long-term relationship.”

Bodin added that ANNA is typically lobbying for two or three things during its workshop. This year, the organization focused on three issues: increased fiscal year 2008 funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) nursing workforce development programs; increased biomedical funding at the National Institutes of Health and, the item most specific to the specialty of nephrology nursing, passage of the Kidney Care Quality and Education Act of 2007.

“This would establish a three-year quality improvement plan for patients with end-stage renal disease,” Bodin explained. “It would encourage at-home dialysis and would provide funding for education for patients, especially those in the early stages of kidney disease, so they could learn more about their disease and hopefully prevent it from going to stage five.”

During this year’s workshop, ANNA representatives visited more than 100 offices to educate legislators on the importance of the Kidney Care Quality and Education Act and received immediate support from five new lawmakers who signed on to cosponsor the act. Additional cosponsors pledged their support in the weeks following the workshop.

ANNA will continue its efforts to increase awareness about the need for improved care for kidney disease patients during its annual end-stage renal disease Education Week, held August 6-10, 2007.

“This is where we encourage representatives and their legislative aides, including state- and local-elected officials, to come and tour facilities where patients with kidney disease receive their treatment—a transplant unit, dialysis clinic or a chronic kidney disease (CKD) clinic—to meet the patients and see the care they receive,” Bodin explained. “This will be our fifth year doing this and it’s continuing to grow and be an important part of our advocacy.”

Bodin concluded that advocacy is and always has been an important part of ANNA, as well as the nursing profession as a whole, and she encouraged all nurses to get involved at whatever level they are able.

“We have to advocate for ourselves and for our patients,” she said. “I’ve come to understand that we can make a difference in the workplace environment, in education, in funding for the nursing workforce and for patient care. Nurses need to know that.”