| Course | NURS 4110 Leadership and Health Policy |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 4 |
| Paper type | Development plan |
| Length | About 780 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 4110 Week 4
Advocacy Development Plan: From Following Policy to Shaping It
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 4110: Leadership and Health Policy
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Advocacy Development Plan: From Following Policy to Shaping It
My Week 3 Leadership Practices Inventory ranked modeling the way highest and inspiring a shared vision lowest. In plain terms, I follow policy well and rarely describe what a better policy would look like. The role I am aiming for is a seat on my hospital's nursing practice council, which reviews and revises organizational nursing policy, and beyond it a voice in state-level decisions about nursing practice.
The plan below sets four goals over the next eighteen months. They are ordered deliberately. The first two build capacity inside my own organization, where I already have standing and can learn how a policy actually moves. The last two look outward, toward the state board of nursing and the state nurses association. The ordering reflects the position of the ANA Code of Ethics that nurses, individually and through their professional organizations, share responsibility for shaping health policy (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015). It also answers the call in the most recent Future of Nursing report for nurses at every level to take part in decisions that affect health and health care (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2021). Every goal is written so that someone else could check whether it was met.
Development Goals
Table 1 sets out each goal with its actions, resources, timeline and the evidence that will show it has been met.
Table 1
Advocacy Development Goals, October 2026 to March 2028
| Goal | Actions | Resources | Timeline | Evidence it was met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Understand how a policy revision moves through the nursing practice council | Request permission from the council chair to observe two meetings; read the council's bylaws; track one revision from proposal to vote | Council chair; bylaws on the intranet; unit manager to approve time off the floor | Observe two meetings by December 2026 | A one-page summary of how the observed revision moved, who spoke, and what changed between proposal and vote |
| 2. Present one evidence summary at a council meeting | Pick a cardiac step-down policy due for review; search the literature with the hospital librarian; draft a one-page summary that opens with the practice the change would produce; rehearse with my mentor | Hospital librarian; mentor; council agenda calendar | Present by April 2027 | Agenda listing, the written summary, and the council's recorded response |
| 3. Learn how state rules on nursing practice are made | Attend one public meeting of the state board of nursing, in person or online; read the materials for one proposed rule in advance | Board of nursing public meeting calendar; posted rule text | Attend by July 2027 | A short written account of the rule discussed, the arguments heard, and the outcome |
| 4. Join the state nurses association's policy committee | Become a member of the association; attend its legislative day; apply for a committee seat when positions open | Membership dues (tuition reimbursement request); association staff contact | Apply by March 2028 | Confirmation of membership, legislative day attendance, and a submitted committee application |
Goal 2 carries the most weight. It is the direct answer to my lowest-ranked practice, because a council presentation cannot succeed by listing problems. Kouzes and Posner (2017) describe the leader's task in this practice as imagining a better future and enlisting others in it. A one-page summary that begins with what practice would look like after the change forces that behavior.
What Could Get in the Way
Time is the obvious obstacle. Night shift makes daytime meetings difficult, so I will ask my manager to schedule me off the night before each council meeting I attend, and I will use online attendance for the board of nursing where it is offered. The second barrier is confidence. I have never spoken at a meeting where a vice president is present. Rehearsing Goal 2 with a mentor who has presented to the council before is the support I need most. A third risk is drift. Plans like this tend to stall after the first goal, once the course ends and no grade depends on them, so I have put the review dates on my calendar now and shared them with my mentor.
Mentor and Review
My mentor for this plan is the clinical nurse specialist for our cardiac service line, who has served on the practice council for three years and agreed to meet with me monthly. We will review progress formally on January 15, 2027, after Goal 1 should be complete, and again in May 2027 after the council presentation. At each review I will ask her one question: which of these goals is actually changing how I behave in meetings, and which is only producing paperwork? If a goal is only producing paperwork, I will revise it.
References
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Nursesbooks.org.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25982
Reading the NURS 4110 Week 4 instructions
The fourth NURS 4110 week commonly asks for a professional development plan based on your self-assessment. You set goals tied to specific results, give each a date and evidence of completion, identify barriers, and name a mentor and review schedule. Faculty mark the link between assessment and goals most heavily. Cite a professional standard or competency framework in APA 7. Goals should be ambitious but achievable within the stated time. Experiences such as attending a board meeting show policy engagement. The plan should read as a sequence, not a list. NURS 4110 faculty want each goal linked to a named result from the inventory, such as the low vision score.
How this NURS 4110 Week 4 example is built
A templated plan of about three pages built as a table with a narrative introduction. The introduction restates the Week 3 finding in two sentences and names the target role. Each of four goals occupies a row with columns for the goal, actions, resources, a timeline and the evidence that it was met. The first goal is internal: observe two meetings of the nursing practice council and summarize how a policy revision moves from proposal to vote. The second is to present one evidence summary at a council meeting within six months. The third looks outward, attending a public state board of nursing meeting and writing a short account of a rule under discussion. The fourth is joining the state nurses association's policy committee. A closing paragraph names a mentor and a date for reviewing progress.
NURS 4110 Week 4 rubric: what earns full marks
Development plans are marked most heavily on the link between assessment and goals, and a plan whose goals could follow any self-assessment loses that link visibly. Many rubrics then credit specificity, meaning goals with actions, timelines and measures rather than aspirations such as becoming more visionary. Feasibility matters too; a plan promising to testify before a legislature within a quarter strains belief in a way a public board meeting does not. Several sections look for professional standards or scholarly sources underpinning the goals, so a plan resting on the inventory alone may leave evidence points unclaimed. Resources are often thin in weaker submissions, listed as time and support without saying whose time or which support. Template formatting counts as well, and a table converted to paragraphs can cost the organization row.
Common NURS 4110 Week 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Development plans lose the most when goals could follow any assessment. Tie each goal to a specific result. Another common gap is goals with no evidence of completion. Name the product or event. Writers also skip barriers. Name them with a response. Avoid goals too large for a year. Choose a mentor by role. Set review dates. Close with the first goal and its date. Writers also forget to describe what the mentor will review, such as the draft proposal. Name it. Name the products that will prove progress. Keep dates realistic for a working nurse. Close with how the plan will be adjusted at the six-month review.
Get a NURS 4110 Week 4 example written to your instructions
Share the Week 4 plan template with its rubric and your Week 3 findings in a sentence or two. What comes back is a NURS 4110 advocacy development plan with four goals in escalating reach. First one free, returned within 24 to 48 hours. Goals pointed at a union, a specialty association or a school board fit the same table.
More NURS 4110 papers and BSN samples
- NURS 4110 Week 1: Leadership Voice Post
- NURS 4110 Week 2: Leadership Style Critique
- NURS 4110 Week 3: Leadership Inventory Analysis
- NURS 4110 Week 5: Policy Issue Selection Post
- NURS 4110 Week 6: Policy Stakeholder Map
- NURS 4110 Week 7: Policy Impact Post
- NURS 4110 Week 8: Advocacy Letter Draft
- NURS 4110 Week 9: Revision Response Memo
- NURS 4110 Week 10: Final Policy Brief
- NURS 4110 Week 11: Policy Voice Reflection
- NURS 4151 Week 4: Search Record
- NURS 4106 Week 4: Contributing Factor Analysis
- NURS 4212 Week 4: Health Indicators Section
- NURS 3111 Week 4: Device Analysis
NURS 4110 Week 4 questions, answered
How ambitious should the goals in a development plan be?
Ambitious in direction and modest in size. The example reaches from a hospital council to a state board meeting, but each step is something a working nurse could do within months: observe, present once, attend, join. Rubrics that credit feasibility tend to penalize goals such as drafting a bill by the end of the quarter, which few nurses could arrange and none could verify in time.
Does a development plan need a professional standard behind it?
Many sections expect one. The example cites the ANA's scope and standards of practice, which list leadership among the professional performance standards expected of every registered nurse, so the plan is framed as meeting a professional expectation rather than a personal preference. The Week 3 inventory supplies the diagnosis; the standard supplies the reason the gap is worth closing.
Why include a state board of nursing meeting?
Because the board is where rules for the profession are made in public, and watching it shows how written comment, testimony and staff reports reach a decision. The example asks only for attendance and a short account of one rule under discussion, which is achievable and builds toward the policy briefs later in the quarter. Boards commonly publish meeting schedules and agendas ahead of time.
Where can I find a free NURS 4110 Week 4 sample paper?
The following-to-shaping policy development plan is reproduced here with goals tied to the inventory, barriers, and the mentor and review schedule.
What is the target in NURS 4110 Week 4?
A nursing practice council seat within a year, with dated goals tied to the vision gap.