Recently, I had the opportunity to tour Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty with my family. Inspired by the stories of those who came to the United States looking for a new life, I also was reminded of my grandfather’s experience as he returned to the United States via New York Harbor after his service in World War II. He said the Statue of Liberty was “the best sight he had ever seen.”

Although this wasn’t my first visit, being there at this particular time in history was quite meaningful. These landmarks demonstrate our country’s unique history with its citizenship, which is foundational to our society. Indeed, there isn’t much that many people can agree on in the United States in 2025. But most of us would agree that nurses, and the profession of nursing, are especially committed to supporting society’s needs.

Many nurses choose their profession because they want to help others. Over time, they see that numerous opportunities exist to help others as a nurse—at the bedside, as a nurse leader, as an educator, or as a member of a community board, for example. But nursing’s responsibility to society is deeper than the skills and tasks we carry out every day.

We’re known to advocate for our patients in the clinical setting, and we’ve been called by countless organizations to extend that advocacy to influence health policy. Although we have had success leading hospitals and healthcare organizations, it’s been challenging for nurses to establish a presence in the political system. Although several factors may contribute to this issue, Gentry and colleagues found that lack of civic knowledge is associated with lower levels of political astuteness. It’s also likely that civic knowledge and political astuteness have an impact on civic engagement, which Adler and Goggins defined as participation in a community to improve conditions or to help shape the future of the community.

According to recent studies (including by Gentry and colleagues and Ludwick and colleagues), nurses don’t demonstrate high levels of civic knowledge, political astuteness, or even the basic civic responsibility of voting. Despite this, Provision 9.2 of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses states: “Individual civic engagement and nursing’s civic professionalism embody nursing’s covenant and affirm the mutual expectations and responsibilities between nursing and society.” This statement reaffirms the expectations of nurses as leaders in the community.

The provision goes on to implore nursing education programs to “provide sustained opportunities for the development of skills that facilitate civic engagement and foster societal flourishing.” As nursing programs around the country enhance their curricula to provide competency-based education, the integration of these concepts will prove crucial to preparing future nurses.

Consider these three opportunities for increasing your own civic knowledge and engagement:

• Register to vote and understand the issues you’re voting for. Exercising this basic duty and privilege is key to being an engaged citizen.
• Review government functions at all levels. It may have been a long time since you took a course in civics or government. That’s okay, but it’s hard to navigate and impact a system you’re unfamiliar with.
• Know who represents you at the local, state, and federal levels – and know their stances on policy. It’s important to know which policymakers are likely to support nursing issues and which ones aren’t.

Additional paths for fulfilling your societal obligation as a nurse include taking an active role in your professional organizations, advocating for health issues in your local community, or running for office yourself. The public entrusts nurses to care for individuals and communities in need. Civic engagement is essential to fulfilling this promise.

Hollie Gentry DNP, APN, WHNP-BC, CNE, is an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Nursing in Newark, NJ.

References

Adler RP, Goggin J. What do we mean by “civic engagement”? J Transform Educ. 2005;3(3):236-53. doi:10.1177/1541344605276792 

American Nurses Association. Code of Ethics for Nurses. 2025. codeofethics.ana.org/home

Gentry H, Patton RM, Lindell D, Ludwick R. Civic knowledge and self-reported political astuteness of academic nurse educators in the United States. J Prof Nurs. 2024;54:85-91. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.06.001 

Ludwick RE, Zalon ML, Patton RM, Baughman KR. Analysis of Ohio nurses’ voting behaviors 2020–2023.Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 2025;26(2):89-96. doi:10.1177/15271544241298259