Emergency department (ED) nurses have expressed concern about workplace safety, with many experiencing physical attacks on a routine basis. Many employers have been reluctant to report assaults to law enforcement because of the bad publicity it might engender. Nurses and others in psychiatric settings have similar concerns, as do nurses working in home health.

Professional organizations representing these individuals, particularly ED nurses, formed a coalition to strategize about how to protect their members. Before the coalition had finished its work, the issue came to a head when an agitated family member assaulted a nurse, resulting in severe injuries to the nurse. Local media picked up the story, and a state legislator, who was a member of the minority party and facing a difficult re-election, was surprised to learn that although teachers and law enforcement officials are part of a "protected class," attacking healthcare workers was a misdemeanor rather than a felony offense. For protected workers, the same assault carries the more stringent criminal designation that includes possible incarceration. The legislator decided to take on this issue, in part because he thought it might help his re-election efforts and because nurse organizations had supported his candidacy in the past.

Which factors must the politically savvy nurse consider if this issue is to move successfully from concept to legislation to law?