Argumentative Essay

Patient Advocacy

[Author’s name]

[Institute’s name]

Abstract

Patients’ advocacy by nurses is characterized as one necessary measure to ensure suitable healthcare services for all the patients. The idea of advocacy demands nurses to develop their strong involvement in the entire process of healthcare for the patients. Nurses as advocates are identified as the facilitators who interfere to successfully address the best interests of patients and their families. The idea of nurse advocacy linked with the consideration of specific characteristics. It is significant for nurses to adopt various stages of advocacy to achieve the core objective of this process. 

Patient Advocacy

Introduction

           Delivery of most suitable healthcare services to the patients is the ultimate objective of nurses. Different relevant ways adopted by nursing staff to ensure effective healthcare paradigms according to their specific needs. It is noteworthy to indicate that there are plenty of theoretical domains associated with the nurses’ role in the entire scenario of healthcare and nurses. Patient advocacy is recognized as one of the critical approaches when it comes to providing appropriate treatment and healthcare facilities to the patients. This paper focuses to develop a strong argument and critically examine why nurses should advocate for patients. 

Discussion

Patient Advocacy

           At the first stage of analysis, it is important to comprehensively define the concept of patient advocacy. Nurses play a crucial role in the entire process of healthcare services for their patients. This specific objective is also associated with the practical idea of patient advocacy in nursing. The role of nurse advocate is characterized as a trained healthcare professional mediates into the process of healthcare service on behalf of a patient. The focal point of this approach is to successfully consider the overall interest of the patient’s healthcare and improve the overall perspective of the nursing profession. Moreover, a nurse advocate is recognized as the individual who works on behalf of patients for the sake of developing and maintaining the proper quality of care and protection of patients’ rights (Negarandeh, Oskouie, Ahmadi, Nikravesh, & Hallberg, 2006). One of its core objectives is to successfully intercede when there is any form of care concern. This specific approach eventually helps nurses to successfully deals with any healthcare concerns of the patients in a suitable way. 

 Role of Nurses to Advocate for Patients

           It is important to understand how successfully nurses can play their role to achieve the objectives of proper advocacy for the patients. The active role of nurses in the form of patient advocacy is immensely important. The primary goal of the nurse as the patient’s advocate is to actively support the best interests of patients when it comes to their proper healthcare. Nurses adopt practical measures to obtain the main aims of the patients’ advocacy. They attend different healthcare team meetings with patients and families to effectively communicate specific healthcare concerns. In other words, nurse advocates perform their role as suitable assistance to the patients and their families in case of providing appropriate healthcare advice to them. It is one of the primary tasks for the nurse advocates to ensure the correctness and completeness of the information they deliver to their patients. Moreover, important healthcare knowledge needs to share with patients in the most effective way to avoid any further healthcare service concerns.  

           As nurses advocate for the patient, the nurses need to resolve their healthcare concerns effectively and efficiently. This approach ultimately helps to achieve the objective of providing better healthcare services to all the patients. The broad concept of patient advocacy comprised of assuring the overall quality of care, a safe and clean environment, and the consideration of basic human rights. There are significant personal attributes of nurses that encourage to successfully attain the aims of patients’ advocacy. These specific characteristics are defined as professional competence, empathy, commitment, flexibility, objectivity, self-encouragement, assessment, a sense of responsibility, and suitable coping domains (Gerber, 2018). A proper combination of all these aspects ultimately helps to achieve the basic foundation of the approach of patient advocacy. Additionally, a proper consideration of the specific code of ethics for nurses is important to professionally meet their standards of patient advocacy. It is important for them to successfully follow specific guidelines and principles to avoid any form of errors during the entire procedure of patient advocacy. 

Necessary for Nurses to Advocate for Patients

           It is critical to figure out why it is necessary for nurses to successfully adopt the approach of patients’ advocacy. The phenomenon of advocacy for patients plays an important role to build a long-term nurse-patient relationship to obtain primary objectives of healthcare. The patient-centered approach needs to be key to ensure the strong role of nurses as patients’ advocates. The practical domain of patients’ advocacy is essential to defend the rights and interests of patients because they are not in suitable condition to advocate for themselves. The range of this form of patients consisted of children, mentally ill, unconscious, uninformed, and fearful of healthcare professionals. The practical idea of patients’ advocacy is important to successfully protect the autonomy and self-determination of the patients in the most respectful manner. It is significant for the nurses to play their active role as the link between patients’ concerns and the overall healthcare system. This specific phenomenon also helps patients and their families to trust the overall process of healthcare services. 

           The overall approach of patients’ advocacy also demands nurses to actively contribute to the procedure of decision-making by patients or their families. They need to share their valuable advice to the decision-makers and raised their voices when patients or their families are not able to successfully address their issues. The nurses need to play their role as facilitator considering the paradigm of proper advocacy. Nurses need to be trained enough as advocators to share uncomfortable information with patients and their families. This perspective is important to successfully achieve the objectives of proper healthcare services (Hyland, 2002). Conflict is one prominent condition that might appear during the process of patients’ advocacy by the nurses. Nurses need to remain prepared to successfully deals with the phases of conflicts and differences and advocate patients in their best interest. Efforts of advocacy by nurses should be properly aligned with the main objectives of professional healthcare prospects for all the patients without any discrimination. 

Conclusions

           To conclude the discussion about the importance of patients’ advocacy by nurses, it is important to mention that it is one suitable approach to develop a strong connection between patients and healthcare services. Appropriate advocacy by nurses helps patients and families to obtain and sustain their confidence in the procedure of professional healthcare services. An in-depth analysis of the patient’s condition is important for the nurses to develop a proper care plan under the domain of advocacy. 

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Gerber, L. (2018). Understanding the nurse’s role as a patient advocate. Nursing2019, 48(4), 55–58.

Hyland, D. (2002). An exploration of the relationship between patient autonomy and patient advocacy: Implications for nursing practice. Nursing Ethics, 9(5), 472–482.

Negarandeh, R., Oskouie, F., Ahmadi, F., Nikravesh, M., & Hallberg, I. R. (2006). Patient advocacy: Barriers and facilitators. BMC Nursing, 5(1), 3.