Advocates for patients have been a crucial aspect of nursing ever since the time of Florence Nightingale’s involvement in the Crimean War, though she did not use the term in its entirety. Even so, her campaign for the cause of healthcare reform and her efforts to make the conditions of British military hospitals more conducive to soldiers led to the creation of a model for advocacy that has been employed in nursing since then.
Based on where you go, what is meant by “advocacy” will differ. In the dictionary, the word “advocacy” refers to the act or procedure of promoting a cause or idea that is the act or procedure of advocating. According to its Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements (Provision 3) in which, the American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nurse advocacy. It states that “The nurse advocates, promote for, and defends patient rights, the health and security that the person is entitled to.”
To give an exhaustive and precise understanding of the concept known as patient advocacy term, a group of researchers in their research “Patient advocacy within nursing A concept analysis” examined 46 research publications and two books that were published in the period between 1850 to 2016, related to advocacy for patients. Researchers used Rodgers’s “evolving concept” analysis which can be described as an “inductive method where the evolution of concepts is studied in the course of.”
Because the definition has changed in the past, researchers employed this method for their study.
The Identified Attributes of the Patient Advocate in Nursing
The researchers identified five main characteristics:
- Protection of children
- Appreciation
- Valuing
- Mediating
- Promoting social justice in the delivery of health care
The development of these five traits revealed that, up to 2000, they comprised nurses monitoring medical errors, ensuring patient personalization and humaneness, as well as instilling self-control in patients, as the patient’s voice and allowing patients to make their own choices and suggest alternatives to their healthcare and safeguarding patients from misconduct or incompetence of staff or members of the health care team.
Between 2001 and 2016, the additional attributes that nurses have were included to define advocacy for patients. They were responsible for protecting patients’ privacy and addressing inappropriate regulations or policies within health care, as well as uncovering and correcting the inequities regarding the delivery of healthcare services.
Patient advocacy is not something that happens in an isolated manner. It is a constantly evolving idea.
The researchers also identified the precursors to its growth and even its existence.
The analysis of the books and articles highlighted the personal and professional qualities that nurses contribute to advocacy for patients, such as professional expertise and knowledge and independence, motivation for work, and the capacity to engage with patients and other members of the healthcare team.
The End-Results of Advocacy
The research demonstrated that advocacy could affect nurses and patients alike. Patients were able to build an attitude of self-determination and empowerment and were the beneficiaries of increased patient safety and the quality of their care.
For nurses, the outcomes include a sense of satisfaction, improvement in their image online/reputation and satisfaction with their work.
Nurses have experienced negative results, but. The adverse outcomes identified included moral dilemmas or moral discomfort and being labeled as troublemakers and feelings of being in a state of disconnection and anger.
Implications for You
This research is an intriguing one. I recommend that all nurses read the whole report to gain a thorough understanding of patient advocacy and its development over time.
The review raises a variety of issues to think about. Do you think advocacy is described differently than you did in the report? Do you know if your coworkers or yourself had any of the advantages that were identified? Are you confronted by one of the negative consequences that the authors identified?
If you’re an academic nurse interested in the characteristics or behaviors of advocacy by patients, this report could be fascinating to you. It could be a research topic you could take on to answer several crucial questions. For instance, do you distinguish advocacy in psychiatric mental healthcare nursing versus mother-child health? What is the role of patient advocacy in these specific areas that nurses practice? How can nurses effectively instruct patients on advocacy? Do you think it should be considered a distinct class or be included in every course of the nurses’ education programs?
It is also a matter of how advocacy for patients will be able to continue to grow when health conditions evolve in the coming years. Concerns like access to healthcare, healthcare for prisoners, and potential changes to Medicare are only some of the present issues in healthcare that could affect how advocacy is viewed in the future.
Nurses play a crucial role as advocates for patients. They are, in fact, the final option if a patient’s wishes aren’t respected, as I have discussed on my blog, “Advocate for patients by respecting advanced directives.”
Your crucial role is crucial during the legislation process. Bills that are proposed to improve healthcare for all patients who can’t effectively speak up for themselves need your voice to be heard, which is why they become law.