The role of the nurse has evolved over time, and nurses now play a vital role in patient’s health and well-being. As healthcare professionals, nurses play an important role in promoting and protecting the rights of their patients.
These rights include the right to receive high-quality care, the right to make decisions about their care and the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Nurses play a vital role in healthcare, and their advocacy for patients is essential to ensuring that everyone receives the best possible care.
They are in a unique position to identify potential problems and offer solutions that can improve patient outcomes.
With recent innovations in healthcare, patients are receiving more sophisticated treatments while nurses at the front lines of healthcare are essential to ensuring that patients receive state-of-the-art healthcare.
Patient advocacy is a term that is used to describe the role of nurses in advocating for the rights of their patients. Advocacy can take many forms, from providing emotional support to patients and their families to working to ensure that patients receive the best possible care.
The ability to advocate for patients is one of the most important skills that a nurse can possess. Nurses are in a unique position to help patients navigate the healthcare system and to provide them with the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.
In order to be effective advocates, nurses must be knowledgeable about the healthcare system and the rights of patients.
They must also be able to communicate effectively with patients and their families, as well as with other members of the healthcare team.
How do nurses advocate for patients?
Nurses advocate for their patients in many ways. They play a vital role in ensuring that patients receive the best possible care and that their rights are respected.
They also educate patients and their families about their rights, help them navigate the healthcare system, and speak up on their behalf when they feel their rights have been violated.
As medical professionals, nurses play a vital role in advocating for their patients. They are in a unique position to provide person-centered care and make a real difference in the lives of those they care for.
They also provide support and guidance, act as a liaison between patients and families and the medical team, and ensure that patients’ rights are respected. They also work to educate patients and families about their condition and treatment options and provide emotional support during difficult times.
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Nurses’ advocacy roles extend beyond the bedside. They also play a vital role in policy change at the local, state, and national levels.
By working with legislators and other decision-makers, nurses can help shape the future of healthcare and make sure that the needs of patients are always a top priority.
The concept of nursing advocacy
Nursing advocacy is the ability of nurses to effectively advocate for patients. Advocacy is an important skill that nurses must hone to provide high-quality care.
According to a 2019 publication in the Nursing Ethics journal, the study identified various overarching characteristics of advocacy in nursing.
The publication identified the following characteristics as key components of advocacy in nursing:
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Social justice is the basic right to dignity, respect, and equality in healthcare. Advocacy can play a crucial role in ensuring that patients are not stigmatized and receive access to appropriate medical care.
Advocacy, when done in a way that reflects the values of nurses throughout society and the global community, can serve as a powerful catalyst to improve healthcare in ways that promote health equity and facilitate access to care for all.
Valuing
Advocacy is about putting others first. It requires that nurses show compassion and care for others, including patients, their loved ones, and other members of the healthcare team.
It also requires that nurses use their experience and expertise to advocate for the needs of patients. The ability to effectively advocate for patients means not only being able to speak up on their behalf but to being able to listen intently to what they have to say.
Apprising
Advocates must be knowledgeable about the healthcare system, the challenges their patients face, and the options that are available to help them.
They must also be able to communicate the information they have gathered effectively with their patients and their families.
Advocacy is an ongoing process that requires nurses to stay up to date on current issues and trends. Nurses need to be able to identify potential problems and be willing to take action to ensure that patients receive the best possible care.
They can become knowledgeable on advocacy issues by attending workshops, taking classes, reading journals, and networking with others who are also interested in advocacy.
Safeguarding
The duty to advocate for the health and well-being of patients is one that nurses take very seriously. Because of this, they are committed to ensuring that patients receive the highest-quality care.
In order to do this, they must keep up with changes in the healthcare system, understand their own role and responsibilities as a nurse, and know how to identify and eliminate potential problems.
Mediating
Effective advocacy requires a willingness to work with and help others. The ability of nurses to mediate effectively contributes greatly to the health and well-being of patients.
When patients face life-changing medical issues, they often need more than medical treatment.
Nurses must also be able to provide additional support to their patients and liaise with the healthcare team.
Many patients may not be able to communicate effectively or have access to the medical resources they need. Nurses can help them by mediating and solving these issues with their support.
Ethical and legal practice in nursing
The role of advocacy in nursing can be a challenge to navigate. Nurses must be able to advocate for their patients while also respecting the needs, values, and rights of the patients and families they are working with.
When this balance is not maintained, nurses may find themselves in a situation where they jeopardize the care that their patients receive or violate their rights.
As the field of nursing continues to evolve and expand, so do standards for ethical practice and legal standards in nursing.
Nurses must be able to work effectively within these ethical parameters in order to provide high-quality care while also respecting the rights of patients and families.
One way that nurses can effectively practice advocacy is to be aware of legal and ethical standards. From there, they can apply these standards in their practice and make sure they always work within professional guidelines.
Nurses should be well-versed in legally mandated policies that pertain to nursing care and know how to navigate healthcare regulations.
The Language of Bioethics
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Bioethics is a broad field that encompasses various sub-topics under the same umbrella. Often, bioethics is used to describe the issues surrounding medical ethics, also known as moral issues in healthcare.
The language of biomedical ethics operates under some basic principles:
1. Autonomy: Personal freedom
The individual autonomy principle states that each person has the right to make choices about their own healthcare. Healthcare professionals should respect the choices that patients make and not prevent these choices from happening. Nurses need to be aware that they cannot simply force patients to accept certain treatments. If a patient refuses a certain treatment, the healthcare professional needs to honor this and not try to force a patient into accepting something they do not want or need.
2. Beneficence: Kindness
Healthcare professionals must also practice the principle of beneficence in their work. This means that nurses have an obligation to do the best they can to help their patients. They must do everything possible to ensure that patients realize the full benefits of the treatment plan. This is something that is particularly important when it comes to end-of-life care.
3. Nonmaleficence: Do no harm
The principle of nonmaleficence is also very important when it comes to treatment guidelines. Nurses need to be aware that some treatments may not be the best for their patients and must be willing to work with them to make the best choices for their patients. Nurses should also limit their own use of treatments that have harmful side effects.
4. Justice: Equity and fairness
Healthcare professionals must also practice justice in their treatment of patients. This means that they must ensure that their care is distributed fairly and equally. They should avoid discrimination and unfair practices when treating their patients. This also includes avoiding prejudices or biases that could influence their treatment of patients.
Advocacy: Its role in nursing care
The way nurses practice advocacy will vary depending on the situation they are working with. The most basic form of advocacy involves providing patients with the information they need to make their own decisions.
This can mean educating patients on the treatment plan or helping them navigate the healthcare system and find the resources they need.
Advocacy can also include taking an active role in ensuring that patient’s rights are protected. Nurses may advocate for patients who lack decision-making capacity through guardianship or power of attorney or by working with family members on behalf of a patient.
Some of the key reasons why advocacy in nursing is important include:
- Improving public health
Advocacy around issues that impact specific populations or geographical areas can help improve the health of that population. This can be done through advocacy on behalf of a group, such as educating physicians on the needs of their patients.
- Fostering partnership
Nurses can help build stronger relationships with their colleagues, leading to more successful healthcare. This builds trust in the nursing team and makes it easier to collaborate on patient care.
- Patient education
Patients are more likely to adhere to treatment plans if they are educated on their conditions, medications, and care. This is especially true when the patient is a part of the decision-making process, which elevates patients’ sense of empowerment. Making a patient feel like they have more power over their own health can also have a positive impact on the patient’s perception of their care, as well as their overall experience with the healthcare system.
- Improving care
Advocacy can also be used effectively to improve healthcare quality. Nurses can lobby for policies that would help improve care as well as educate others in their field on best practices and cutting-edge research.
- Improving the safety of vulnerable patients
Through advocacy, nurses can improve the quality of care that is provided to patients who are most vulnerable. This includes such groups as children, patients with disabilities, and the elderly.
- Promoting policy change
Through advocacy and education, nurses can help promote policy changes that would improve healthcare for everyone. This includes promoting equality in access to care as well as advocating for policies that would make it easier for patients (or their loved ones) to navigate the system.
- Improving patient access to healthcare
Advocacy can also be used to help improve access to healthcare for all patients, no matter what station they are in life. This includes helping to change policies that would allow more people access to care and provide them with the resources they need to be healthy.
Ready to change the world?
The field of bioethics is diverse and complex – a nursing perspective can be of great value in helping to bring its principles to life. Nurses can help set the tone for the health of their patients by acting ethically and responsibly with their professional conduct.
Nurses can also become practitioners who bring light to areas of healthcare that are not often discussed, such as patient advocacy and working alongside teams of professionals and other stakeholders.
If you’ve got the skills, the drive, and the desire to help empower our future generations and change lives, then consider following a nursing career and pursuing the nurse practitioner programs.
About The Author:
Stacey Smith is a freelance health writer. She is passionate about writing about women’s health, dental health, diabetes, endocrinology, and nutrition and provides in-depth features on the latest in health news for medical clinics and health magazines.
