Patient Advocacy
The role of a registered nurse in patient advocacy includes helping patients make informed choices or decisions about their health. The nurses are tasked with the role of assisting patients in navigating the complex medical system, enable patients to made essential ethical choices and help in translating medical terms for patients (Hewitt, 2002). since registered nurses have direct contact with patients, they are positioned to advocate for care services that are offered. Further, the role of the registered nurse in patient advocacy includes promoting patient equality, whereby respect for the patient’s worth, uniqueness, and dignity is enhanced. As a result, by successfully ensuring that the care needs of the patients have been advocated, the healing process will be promoted.
There are distinct situations that nursing advocacy can help patients within the care environment. One of the situations is when patients are vulnerable based on the kind of medical terms that are used. A registered nurse needs to give patients a voice when a doctor is describing a treatment or ad diagnosis option that enables them to ask questions, translate information about medical information, and ask a question about things that they do not understand (Bu et al., 2008). Further, patients experiencing chronic conditions can be helped through nursing advocacy, where patients are assisted when they are in such a care environment. They should be taught how they can improve their everyday quality of life through eating healthy.
Nurses are adequately prepared in pre-licensure education to enable them to act as patient advocates. In recent years, patient advocacy has been moved beyond a duty that is associated with a Registered Nurse but a specialty role in care institutions, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations (Seal, 2007). Nurses can now promote patient advocacy by supporting patient rights, advising them, helping them make the right care decision, and educate them about medical terms that a doctor tells them.
References
Bu, X., & Wu, Y. W. B. (2008). Development and psychometric evaluation of the instrument: attitude toward patient advocacy. Research in nursing & health, 31(1), 63-75.
Hewitt, J. (2002). A critical review of the arguments debating the role of the nurse advocate. Journal of advanced nursing, 37(5), 439-445.
Seal, M. (2007). Patient advocacy and advance care planning in the acute hospital setting. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, The, 24(4), 29.