Essay on Concep Analysi: Patient Advocacy

Patients have the right to self-determination and individuals should have control over their own lives. With respect for human autonomy comes respect for patient rights. Apart of the nurses job is to promote, advocate and protect the rights, health, and safety of our patients. Patients have the right to determine their health needs, make informed decisions, and the right to information regarding their treatment and also the refusal of treatment. Nurses are obligated to know the rights of a patient and to make sure the patient understands their treatment plan. Supporting patient autonomy includes making decisions in the best interest of the patient, considering their values and recognizing differences between cultures. In the treatment

Nursing is defined as the promotion, protection and the prevention of illness and Injury, the treatment of a patient’s disease or diseases, the patient’s response to a disease, as well as one big thing that nurses are known for, and that is being a patient’s advocate nursing has been one of the fastest growing fields since the 1990’s (Mueller et al.,2012). Advocacy is defined as an action in which a person speaks out, argues a cause, supports and defends on the behalf of others. I believe that the role of being a patient advocate is one of the most important things a nurse can do because there are many patients that cannot speak on their behalf, I believe that it is up to the nurses to be those patients as well as all patient’s voices (Mueller et al., 2012).

In Nursing, there will always be instances where the patient's nurse needs to advocate for their patient. There are numerous reasons why a nurse would advocate for their patient ranging from getting the doctor to change the patient’s orders, helping the patient’s treatment team understand what it is the patient is requiring for the day, to expressing the patient’s last wishes before death. In every situation, the nurse should do what is in the patient’s best interest. Tomajan (2012), “Advocacy skills are the ability to successfully support a cause or interest on one’s own behalf or that of another. Advocacy requires a set of skills that include problem solving, communication, influence, and collaboration”(p. 2). With those skills, the

Maeve and Vaughn (2001) also state that a prison facility necessitates more self-awareness by nursing staff to provide ethical care since prisons are society’s way of punishing, serving justice, and deterring crime. Nel Noddings (1984) described two types of caring that nurses utilize. Natural caring is something that is innate to most. We learned how to care by being cared for. Ethical caring requires intention to operate with compassion despite the individual or circumstances. Maeve and Vaughn (2001) propose that correctional nurses often operate under ethical caring in order to overcome the obstacles faced due to an offender’s behavior or crime. Some of the ethical dilemmas Maeve and Vaughn described that nurses will face in correctional settings are: carrying out the death penalty; providing client confidentiality during exams and discussing diagnosis; inappropriate use of chemical restraints for security rather than medicinal purposes; working with underqualified medical personnel; providing care for offenders who are violent or have an addiction or mental illness; planning/referring offenders for appropriate care once released; caring for incarcerated mothers; and

Nurses’ involvement in policy debates brings our professional values to bear on the process. (Warner, 2003) The Master’s prepared nurse’s goal as an advocate should be to fight to enhance the client’s wellbeing in every possible way, at every available opportunity. This can be achieved by being part of organization that advocate for patients’ right as well as for better working condition for our colleagues. Also, nurses could choose to get involved in politics or lobby on behalf of other nurses.

The Tennessee Nurses Association has a goal to enhance nurse advocacy. For a nurse to practice advocacy for patients, one must understand the importance. Research had to be done to determine what the nurses were expected to advocate for their patients. Choi, Pin-Pin, and Mei-che Pang (2014) conducted a study to discover how the nurses integrate the advocacy. Choi, Pin-pin, Cheung, and Mei-che Pang’s discovered that nurses are a huge part of recognizing safety concerns and health changes for patients throughout their hospital stay (Para. 5).

Nurses are the first to deal with patients such as, the aging population in the clinical or community setting, so they are well qualified to give expert testimony on health care reform. Before nurses can take a stance and gain a voice in the political arena, they must take on a new hat as an “advocate.” They can start their journey as a patient advocate by joining an association like The American Nurses Association (ANA). Associations like the ANA can mentor nurses venturing into the profession of patient advocacy; in addition to mentoring, the nursing associations can offer legislative days, policy internships, and conduct policy workshops to educate nurses on how to positively affect the legislation and policies at the state or federal level on health care

This is called an advocator, knowing their patients needs and wants so they can speak for the patient when they cannot speak for themselves. If you want to be a nurse advocate, you must first earn a bachelor's or associate degree in nursing, or graduate from a nursing diploma program. After successfully completing your education, you will need to pass the exam to become a licensed registered nurse. Nurses could also be a counselor maybe for particular things such as the people that are in charge of meetings for addicts. There is also nursing management which is performing leadership functions such as decision-making within organizations and employing nurses. It includes the common thing management do like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. There is also a nurse coordinator; the clinical nurse coordinator serves as the eyes and ears for the nurse manager on a given shift. They make rounds on patients and staff, leads by example, and serves as a liaison between the unit and other hospital departments. Lastly a nurse could be a researcher; a Nurse Researcher is a monthly journal which publishes original research and clinical articles relevant to the practice of nursing research. Nurse researchers are scientists who study various aspects of health, illness, and health care. By designing and implementing scientific studies, they look for ways to improve health, healthcare services, and

An advocate must have influence or must be in a position to influence decision or action through his or her message. The nurse must develop influencing skills on competence, credibility, and trustworthiness. For example, a veteran’s advocate must have the best interest of the veteran some as to build trust and credibility in order to facilitate change (Tomajan, 2012)

The healthcare industry has intensely advanced throughout the world, in turn changing the principles that incorporate the practice and culture of nursing practice. Altering the model of care to a patient-centered mode signifies an organizational culture shift and requires the participation of executives at the senior level (Cliff, 2012). To practice this care to provide the best care possible, it goes beyond the nurse to all healthcare professionals and senior leadership. The days of patients and nurses following a physician’s order without favor to care has now loaned themselves to more of an interdisciplinary approach to practice. Though, it is encouraged that the patient makes decisions for themselves, after receiving the proper education and information on their condition. Part of the patient-centered care is to be the patients’ advocate, by letting them know you are there for them when they are unable to speak and advocate for themselves and what is in their best interest. That goes in hand with educating them on “self-management of care, health literacy, patient, and family education through nurse-patient communication and interaction (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016, p. 271).”

Bekemeier and Butterfield’s article “Unreconciled Inconsistencies: A Critical Review of the Concept of Social Justice in 3 National Nursing Documents,’ highlighted multiple literary discrepancies on the subject of social justice in nursing. These fundamental nursing documents are: Nursing's Social Policy Statement, Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. I find myself agreeing with the viewpoints of Bekemeier and Butterfield. They bring to light many entries where nursing care is focused more in response to an injury or disease process, rather than providing nursing on a larger scale with a preventative connotation. The verbiage in many areas of

Nurses play many essential roles in the care of their patients, one is being an advocate. Nurse advocates are the liaison between patients and doctors.

In a profession where others' health and well-being are priority, there leaves room for neglect of those who are delegated to care for these people. As a professional nurse, there are many obstacles that arise and affect the care provided to a patient, as well as the livelihood of the nurse. The current deteriorating and unsafe staffing conditions in hospitals and other institutions prompts workplace advocacy as the universally appropriate concept for maintaining professional nursing practice. The Arkansas Nurses Association and the Louisiana State Nurses Association define workplace advocacy as a planned, organized system of services and resources designed to support the professional nurse in the workplace (White Paper on

Curtin's (1979) concept of advocacy is based on the nurse/patient relationship that forms from the common bond of humanity. The nurse must realize patient reactions and needs created by illness, which may threaten the integrity of the person (Bu & Jzewski, 2006, p103)(McSteen & Peden-McAlpine, 2006, p. 260). Gadow (1980) states that advocacy not only preserves, but also positively contributes to self-determination. "The effort to assist patients become clear about what they want in a situation, to assist them in discerning and clarifying their values and examining available options in light of those values" (MacDonald, 2007, p.120) Kohnke's (1982) definition of advocacy focuses on ensuring patient self-determination over decision-making (MacDonald, 2007, p. 120). Advocacy involves the nurse supplying patients with information needed to make appropriate choices and then supporting the decisions they make along with their right to make that decision (Bu & Jzewski, 2006, p103). Robinson (1985) thought advocacy involved allowing patients to make decisions without pressure and promote informed decision-making" (Baldwin, 2003, p. 35). Chafey et. al. (1998) indicated that the nurse-patient relationship is an important feature of advocacy. Teaching, informing, and supporting are activities of patient advocates. Lindahl and Sandman (1998) described patient advocacy as "building a caring relationship, carrying out a commitment, empowering, making room for and

When it comes to patient care, nurses play a critical role in the health care system that is simply just not replaceable. As Maya Angelou says, “they may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Nurses interact so closely with patients every day and spend the most time with them and their families. But nursing not only involves delivering care, it also involves patient advocacy. Demonstrating advocacy in nursing practice is necessary for providing effective care because it allows for development of a strong nurse-patient interpersonal relationship, which is needed to support the patient and promote healing. Nurses can demonstrate advocacy to help enhance this relationship by helping protect patient privacy, speaking