Op-ed
Op-eds are opinion articles 500 to 750 words in length. Most newspapers print such articles on
the pages opposite their editorial page. Send an op-ed to your local newspaper if you have an
opinion on a timely issue. Follow up with a phone call to the Opinion Page Editor (who
sometimes is also the Editorial Page Editor).
Some tips about op-eds:
 Op-eds should emphasize the writer’s opinion or experience and be of interest to the
general public.
 Opinion page editors look for op-eds that advance the public discussion of an issue, that are
interesting and compelling, and that come from interesting authors.
 Check the paper’s preferred length by checking for the paper’s submission guidelines on its
website, counting words in articles they publish, or by calling the op-ed editor’s office to
ask. Don’t ever exceed the word limit, even by a couple of words. Op-ed editors have so
many articles submitted for their consideration that if you can’t make your point in 700
words, they can afford to wait for someone who can! Don’t indulge the temptation to
break this rule no matter how golden your prose.
Here’s how to place an op-ed piece:
 Find out how your local newspaper prefers to have op-eds submitted. Some take op-eds
through their websites and most take them by email. If you submit your op-ed by email,
include a brief cover note addressed to the op-ed editor. It should summarize the key
points in one paragraph, and explain the source of the author’s expertise on the issue.
Include your name and phone number in the letter. If you submit via the website, you might
still be able to include such a note, depending on the newspaper's system.
 Place a follow up call a day or so later to ask if the op-ed has arrived and whether the op-ed
page editor plans to use it. If the newspaper rejects the op-ed, don’t be discouraged. If
there is another newspaper – daily or weekly – you are free to submit it to that paper.
However, under no circumstances should you submit an op-ed to two newspapers in the
same market at the same time. Newspapers deserve and will demand a “market exclusive”
for an op-ed. Submit it to one outlet and, if they turn it down, move on to the next.
Sample Op-Ed
The Clinical Nurse Specialist: One of the Most Important Health Care Assets
You’ve Never Heard of
By [Name]
Everyone is concerned about rising health care costs and ensuring high quality health care in
the United States and here in [state or city name]. Policymakers, hospital administrations,
health care systems, insurance companies, and patients are also all looking for ways to ensure
that health care is cost-efficient. One of their strongest allies in this effort is someone whom
too many of them have never heard of: the Clinical Nurse Specialist, or CNS.
There are more than 72,000 of us across the United States but we may be one of the best kept
secrets in health care. [Today kicks off/This week is] National Clinical Nurse Specialist
Recognition Week. It is a time when hospitals and health care systems hold events to increase
awareness of the role CNS in improving care and reducing health care costs. Here at [name of
hospital or health system] we’re [describe your CNS Week event]. But what is it that we do
that’s so valuable?
Clinical nurse specialists work in hospitals and other health care settings doing three things:
providing direct patient care; working with nurses and other professionals to advance nursing
practice; and improving clinical processes to improve patient safety and quality of care. We are
educated as advanced practice nurses, meaning we have backgrounds in physiology,
pharmacology and physical assessment. Depending on her or his specialty, a CNS can also work
in cardiac care, pediatrics, cancer care or any other number of areas. For example, [describe
your work and/or your specialty].
Perhaps most importantly, CNSs understand the importance of using science to improve health
care – what we call evidence-based care or evidence-based practice. We stay up-to-date on the
latest research in our area of specialty and work with our colleagues and health care
organizations to implement practices and policies based on that research. We help drive major
changes that will help people avoid being rehospitalized, being hospitalized for a longer time
than anticipated, and possibly from being hospitalized at all.
For instance, [describe in several sentences how you or a colleague has instituted a change that
has accomplished one of these things.]
While a week of recognition is a wonderful tribute, it’s important that we work constantly to
help health care providers, policymakers, health care consumers and others fully understand
the important role that CNSs play in health care. While the results of a job well-done –
colleagues who are able to provide better care more efficiently, healthier patients, lower health
care costs – are their own reward, we can make a bigger difference in improving health care if
more people understand the value, expertise and skills we bring to health care practice.
If every health care setting employed CNSs, more of the care provided would be based on
evidence and best practices, our health care system would be more efficient, and our nation
would be healthier.
[Name] is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at [employer] and a member of the National Association of
Clinical Nurse Specialists.