As a nurse, it’s not just your job to care for patients: You also need to do what you can to improve the environment of the hospital where you work. Nurses and other caregivers must write proposals for a variety of reasons. Whether you’re putting together a grant proposal to obtain additional resources or making suggestions that will streamline care in your ward, you need to provide key information that's arranged in a logical manner in your proposal.

Determine the focus of your proposal. Make your claim clear so that your audience can follow your reasoning. Your focus is shaped by your audience: If you're trying to persuade a group of doctors and other health care personnel, for example, you may not have to include a lot of the medical basics or define terms they probably already know. On the other hand, if your proposal is geared toward a general audience, it might be a good idea to explain medical concepts or include helpful diagrams.

Outline your proposal with a mind toward its purpose. According to Nursing Planet, proposals are often structured much like medical research papers. Nursing Planet advises you to split your proposal into a number of sections, including a statement of the problem you’re confronting, your hypothesis and the methods you'll use.

Review any possible guidelines your organization may have with respect to proposals. For example, Washington State University’s Office of Grant and Research Development offers a number of resources to guide proposal writers. Certain guidelines are general, while others are specific and make your job a little easier, allowing you to basically insert information into a template.

Compose the sections of your proposal. As is the case with most scientific fields, you should keep your sentences short and descriptive. Your primary goal is to allow your reader to understand your points as easily as possible. Bear in mind your ultimate goal: patient care. Be sure to note the effect on the patient in each section.

Proofread your proposal before passing it on. You can show the proposal to someone else or check your sentences yourself. One effective way to find errors in grammar is to read your paper aloud to yourself. Quite often, you’ll be able to hear problems in your prose that you didn’t catch the first time around.