63// Voting as a Nurse: A Call to Action

I recorded this one live on Election Day, and I couldn't wait to get it out. It's my unscripted call to every nurse who's ever claimed the title "patient advocate" — and then stayed silent at the ballot box. It started in the simulation lab: a pediatric scenario with a baby admitted for hypoglycemia and a mother diluting formula to make it stretch. A scenario I'd written months earlier and run many times before. But during the debrief, one of my nurses connected it out loud to what's happening right now with WIC and SNAP — and the line between Washington policy and the hospital bedside snapped into focus. That connection is the whole episode: what happens in the voting booth shows up on your unit. I make the case that we as nurses hold insight on healthcare no one else has, which makes your vote uniquely powerful — and explains exactly why politicians fight so hard to control it. From redistricting battles to a fragmented CDC and measles resurgence, I walk you down the direct line from policy decisions to the patients walking through your doors. And I land on a challenge: your first assignment as an advocate isn't at the bedside. It's at the ballot box. 3 Takeaways Policy isn't abstract — it's clinical. The babies coming in hypoglycemic because formula got diluted are a downstream effect of decisions made in Washington and your state capital. You see the ripple first. Your vote scares the powerful — that's the proof it matters. Redistricting fights and gerrymandering only make sense if the people in power know your ballot has weight. Act accordingly. Voting is your first assignment as an advocate, not your last. Bedside advocacy without ballot-box advocacy is incomplete. Real advocacy extends to the voting booth, the town hall, and every space where health decisions get made. Mentioned / Referenced WIC (Women, Infants, and Children program) SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Your state's Nurse Practice Act Local polling location lookup (search your state board of elections) Got a Career or Work question? Send me a text right here. Support the show Trying to figure out your next career step?  Download my FREE  Nursing Career Growth Roadmap Tired of being overlooked for promotions? Book a Nurse Leadership Positioning Intensive—a 60-minute 1:1 session to pinpoint what's blocking your advancement and map out your plan to get there.