THE ROLE OF NURSES IN PATIENT ADVOCAY
THE ROLE OF NURSES IN PATIENT ADVOCAY
Blog Article
In the healthcare sector, nurses play an undeniable role beyond direct clinical care; they are significant patient advocates. Patient advocacy is a critical aspect of nursing, ensuring that the well-being, healthcare needs, and patient rights are prioritized. Within a complex healthcare framework, where patients may feel vulnerable or overwhelmed, nurses act as the patient’s voice, guiding and supporting them throughout the medical process. Advocacy by nurses can make the difference between receiving adequate person-centered care and having unmet medical needs. (Watson et al., 2024)
What is Patient Advocacy?
Patient advocacy refers to the actions and interventions registered nurses and public health nurses take to represent and support the best interests of their patients. This includes ensuring that patients have access to vital health information for making informed decisions about their healthcare, safeguarding patient rights, and intervening when patient safety is at risk. As the most consistently present healthcare professionals at the patient’s side, nurses are in a unique position to understand patients’ healthcare concerns, preferences, and emotional needs. (Karatana & Karaman, 2024)
Key Elements of Nursing Advocacy:
Ensuring Patient Safety:
Patient safety is a critical aspect of advocacy. Nurses are the first line of defense against potential medical harm, adverse reactions, and medical errors. Through careful monitoring, nurses can detect changes in the patient’s condition and take immediate action to prevent complications.
Protecting Patient Rights:
Nurses play a crucial role in ensuring that patient rights are protected. This includes the right to confidentiality, privacy, refusing treatment, and providing informed consent. Nurses ensure that patients understand their rights and have the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about their healthcare treatment.
Empowering Patients:
One of the most significant roles of a nurse advocate is to empower patients. This means providing patients with the information, resources, and tools they need to make informed decisions about their care. Nurses typically offer guidance on treatment options, potential side effects, and the benefits and risks of different medical interventions.
Acting as a Liaison:
Effective communication is critical for patient advocacy, and nurses act as intermediaries between patients and various members of the healthcare team. They relay the patient’s concerns, preferences, and questions to specialists, doctors, and other caregivers. This ensures that the patient’s voice is heard throughout the treatment process.
Ethical Advocacy:
Nurses often face ethical dilemmas while advocating for their patients, particularly in complex medical situations. Ethical patient advocacy involves supporting the patient’s wishes, even when they conflict with the opinions of family members or the healthcare team. Nurses may be called upon to advocate for a patient’s right to decline life-support or ensure that palliative care aligns with the patient’s desires. (Su et al., 2024)
Despite their pivotal role in patient advocacy, nurses often encounter significant challenges. Hierarchical structures, heavy workloads, and time constraints within the healthcare environment can sometimes limit the nurse’s ability to advocate effectively. Additionally, nurses may face situations where a patient’s preferences conflict with the recommendations of the healthcare team. Navigating these complex situations requires moral courage, critical thinking, and strong communication skills.Overall, nursing advocacy has a positive and direct impact on patient outcomes. Research indicates that patients who feel understood and supported by nurses are more likely to comply with treatment plans, leading to better health outcomes, environmental sustainability and improved healthcare quality. Additionally, when nurses advocate for patient safety and well-being, they help reduce medical errors, prevent complications, and enhance the overall quality of care. Patient advocacy also fosters trust and strengthens the nurse-patient relationship. (Çatak, 2024)
In the healthcare field, nurses and other health and social care professionals play a vital role as advocates, ensuring patients’ rights are safeguarded, their voices are represented, and their safety is upheld. By upholding ethical standards, facilitating communication, and empowering patients, nurses help bridge the gap between patients and the often complex medical system. Through their advocacy, nurses enhance the human side of medicine, improve the quality of care, and lead to better patient outcomes by ensuring that healthcare remains patient-centered. In an ever-changing medical landscape, the role of nurses as patient advocates will only grow in importance, making their contributions even more indispensable. (Montgomery et al., 2024)
References
Çatak, T. (2024). Nursing and environmental sustainability: Pioneers of green transformation in health. SabuncuogluSerefeddin Health Sciences, 6(1), 51–62.
Karatana, Ö., &Karaman, M. (2024). Relationship of sustainable development goals, holistic nursing competence, and social justice advocacy role in public health nurses. Public Health Nursing.
Montgomery, L., McShane, C. M., Santin, O., Nakaggwa, F., Agaba, P., Apio, J., Kawooya, A. N., Komuhangi, A., Jenkins, C., MacDonald, M., Githinji, F., Misinde, C., &Nanyonga, R. C. (2024). Caring for people with non-communicable diseases: the views and experiences of health and social care professionals in Uganda. International Journal of Care and Caring, 1–20.
Su, S., Basit, G., Demirören, N., &Alabay, K. N. K. (2024). Impact of Ethics Education on Nursing Students’ ethical sensitivity and Patient Advocacy: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Journal of Academic Ethics.
Watson, B. N., Estenson, L., Eden, A. R., Gerstein, M. T., Carney, M. T., Dotson, V. M., Milnes, T., & Bierman, A. S. (2024). Person-Centered Care planning for people living with or at risk for multiple chronic conditions. JAMA Network Open, 7(10), e2439851.