The health policy paper is a written document that contains the following parts:
1. Title Page- Follow APA style guide to format the title page
2. Statement of the Policy Issue- Brief (2-3 sentence) statement describing the issue
3. Background related to the issue- An explanation of the problem and its significance. Include support as needed, including references to research literature if relevant
4. Information pertinent to the issue – This may pertain to current laws needing to be changed, current debate about the issue, and/or data about the issue
5. Policy Options- What has been done (or proposed) about the issue so far? Have other organizations addressed it? Are there pending legislative or regulatory proposals? (include support as needed)
6. Your Recommendation for Policy- List recommendations about what different stakeholders should do—e.g., Congress, state legislatures, relevant government agencies, health systems leaders, other nursing organizations, etc. (Of course, this will depend on the specific issue). Can be formatted as a bullet list if appropriate.
7. References- Format the references using the APA style guide
**Title and Reference Pages are not included in 5 pages. They are separate from the core minimum 5 pages.