Nursing Organizations Alliance

Nurse in Washington Internship (NIWI)

2008 NIWI
March 9-11, 2008
Holiday Inn Capitol
Washington, DC

NIWI 2008 Scholarship Winners Announced
Final Agenda Available

“Knowledge gained
from the 2006 NIWI conference
has already proven valuable
to my career.”
Christina Foushee, RN, MS, PhD
Student, University of California
San Francisco

Travel Information
NIWI Attendance
Purpose
Objectives
Topics
NIWI Scholarship
Nursing Contact Hours
Conference Cancellation Policy
For More Information

WOCN members attending NIWI meet with Representative Carolyn McCarthy. Representative McCarthy is one of three nurses serving in Congress.

NIWI Attendance
NIWI is open to any RN or nursing student (all levels of education) that is interested in learning more about the legislative process. There is not an application or acceptance process to attend NIWI. You just need to register and pay the registration fee. For more information on our scholarship, see below.

Meeting Schedule
The 2008 NIWI will begin on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and end Tuesday afternoon with a closing reception.

Internship Objectives

Describe how nurses can be involved and influence policy at the local and national level.
Discuss how to work effectively with legislative staff to advance policy agendas.
Network with other nurses with similar clinical/political interests.
Describe key steps to effect change in the legislative process.
Identify techniques to advance legislative issues at the grassroots level.
Identify legislative, political, and economic forces driving health care policy and delivery changes today.

NIWI attendees from Iowa meet with Senator Tom Harkin and his staff at breakfast to discuss reauthorization and funding of Title VIII. Senator Harkin is the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.

Topics Included

What is Advocacy and Health Policy?
Importance of Coalition Building and Media Advocacy to Advance Nursing Priorities and Issues of Interest
View From Capitol Hill
State / Regional Breakout Sessions
A Nursing Call to Action and Communicating Nursing Priorities to Capitol Hill
Nursing Leadership Developement
State Legislatures 101

Ilisa Halpern Paul and James Twaddell, both representing Drinker Biddle Gardner Carton, conduct role playing sessions to prepare NIWI attendees for their representative and senate visits on Capitol Hill.

Scholarship
This scholarship is sponsored by Elsevier/Saunders publishers and the editors of Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care (5th Ed.) on behalf of the book's many contributors.

The recipient of the full scholarship to NIWI 2008 was Lee Ann Krapfl, Dubuque, Iowa. To read her report from NIWI 2008 please click here.

The recipient of the NIWI 2008 registration scholarship was Meg Beturne, Hampden, Massachusetts. To read her report from NIWI 2008 please click here.

If you are interested in scholarship information for NIWI 2009, it will be available through this website August 2008.

“Because of NIWI, I now have a heightened
understanding of the legislative process and how
it impacts nursing practice and patient care.”
Robert T. Carroll, PhD(c), RN, ACRN,
NW AIDS Education and Training

2007 NIWI attendees take time out to pose for a photo with new found friends at the conference.

Nursing Contact Hours
NIWI 2008 was approved for 2.75 contact hours by the Tennessee Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. The Alliance will seek contact hour approval for NIWI 2009.

For More Information - please contact Alliance Headquarters Offices at 859-514-9157 or alliance@AMRms.com.