Journal of Nursing Management 4: 93-101. It entails participating directly and indirectly in political processes and acknowledging the importance of evidence, power and politics in advancing policy options. The importance of advocacy: Your voice matters. Nursing Times 96: 30, 18. Identify issues that affect the practice of professional nursing in the health care workplace. Although available scholarship shows that nursing advocacy is a relatively new concept (Kibble, 2012), it is evident that the role of the nurse as an advocate in healthcare settings is not necessary new considering that nurses have historically been involved in identifying patient needs and seeking ways to have these needs met (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012). While patient advocacy is essential, not all nurses know what it looks like in practice. The American Encourages Association (ANA) addressed the signification of nursing puff in its regulation of Ethics. ADVOCACY IN NURSING 2 Even with the evolution of healthcare, nurses are still upheld to a certain standard of practice and are expected to fulfill various roles to meet patient and community needs. i Another definition describes advocacy as the act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending. Crit Care Med 2015; 43: ... Relational ethics and advocacy in nursing: literature review. There is potential for a common definition, but agreements need to be reached on whether advocacy is an essential function of nursing within the management of health care, and if so, what is advocacy’s importance, focus, and limits. Twitter. For example, in talking with a patient’s family member, a nurse might uncover an important detail that was not reflected in the patient’s charts and relay this to the healthcare team. Advocacy allows patients to be involved in their healthcare processes. Its importance and prominence is reflected by its inclusion by various nursing bodies into their codes of ethics. Nurses instinctively advocate for their patients, in their workplaces, and in their communities; but legislative and political advocacy is no less important to advancing the profession and patient care.†– American Nurses Patient advocacy is described as “nursing activities aimed at securing patient’s legal and ethical rights and satisfying their existential needs, both on the level of the patient-nurse relationship and in the healthcare team or organization” (Vaartio-Rajalin & Leino-Kilpi, 2011). Identify available resources to assist in improving the workplace environment. 27. Discuss the importance of advocacy as it pertains to patient care. Therefore, stewardship, governance, and advocacy for the profession must be employed by nursing leaders for its protection and progression. The role of an advocate is a fundamental concept for the profession of nursing. Ethics is an integral part of building strong advocacy strategies. Learn more about patient advocacy nursing and how it plays an important role in your career. Facebook. Economic, political, cultural, social, behavioral, environmental and biological factors can either favor health or be harmful to it. 27. Explain what the advocacy accomplished for the patient, and what the repercussions would have been if the patient would not have had an advocate. Nursing as a profession, coupled with the men and women who make up its numbers, function as the first line of defense for their patients. Despite this, opinion is polarised as to the nature and extent of nursing advocacy. Another important contribution of nursing advocacy is that patients receive appropriate care.