Make Your Voice Heard
Letters to the Editor are among the best read sections of any newspaper. Letters are a short, effective way for you to directly reach the public. The voices of nurses are especially important.
12 Tips for Writing Letters to Newspaper Editors
- Emphasize issues that most directly affect the readers – quality of care and patient safety.
- Express what you know from personal experience, based on your direct knowledge and expertise. Describe in general how hard it is to provide safe care with the erosion of patient care standards. Any descriptions of problems with patient care must be accurate and verifiable.
- Letters should be typed, if possible. Print and sign your name, with RN behind your name. Include your address and phone (many publications like to confirm the letter writer).
- Stay close to home; write to your local newspaper. Newspapers are more likely to run letters with hometown addresses. It is OK to send a letter to more than one paper in your area.
- Be topical. Newspapers favor letters that respond to current news events, articles, opinion columns, editorials, and even other letters that have appeared in their paper in recent days.
- Express a strong opinion. However, don't be strident. Don't be defensive. Avoid personal attacks. Avoid sarcasm, it's not effective.
- Be factual. Cite a statistic, but not too many.
- Be brief. Most publications have limits, commonly 100 to 200 words, usually printed in a box on the letters page. If you go over their limit it's an excuse to toss your letter. Most word processing programs on computers have word counts.
- Be concise. Use short sentences. Select two or three main points you want to make at most and state them clearly.
- Don't describe specific incidents from which a patient or physician could be identified.
- Correct errors before sending. If you work with a computer, use spell check. If you're not sure of the meaning of a word don't use it or look it up.
- Don't use medical jargon or acronyms.
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