The Nurse as Advocate
The Nurse as Advocate
Advocacy is a professional responsibility for nurses. The third provision in the Code of Ethics for Nurses states that “The nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the health, safety and rights of the patient.” In addition, professional nursing associations also advocate for patients and the nursing profession. To prepare for this Discussion, consider how a nurse can be an advocate and how professional organizations help promote change. Examine the Web site of a nursing association (the Emergency Nurses Association, for example) and explore its advocacy efforts. (Make sure to note the association and its Web site in APA format in your posting.) Then, review your resources from this week and address the following:
•How are nurses and professional nursing associations advocates for patients, the public, the profession, or improvements in health care? Include how the role of advocate addresses social justice and how the role may change in the future.
•What strategies can be used by both nurses and professional associations to continue the push for change in health care?
Support your ideas or those of others with references from the professional nursing literature.
Nursing Advocacy
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(University)
According to Erien (2006), the fact that the nursing profession, the public, and the patients experience some degree of vulnerability necessitates advocacy either by the nurses themselves or professional nursing bodies. Nurses and professional bodies for nurses advocate for patients by representing and/or supporting them and their families in their quest for quality healthcare CITATION BuX07 \l 1033 (Bu & Jezewski, 2007). Individual nurses or the nursing body can advocate for the profession, public or patients by acting as a negotiator whenever any of the foregoing entities is in a vulnerable position. For instance, a nurse can advocate for a patient by stopping a planned procedure and requesting for a re-explanation if he or she discovers that a patient does not comprehend the procedure CITATION Eri061 \l 1033 (Erien, 2006). Thus, as advocates, nurses and nursing bodies act on behalf of the patient, the profession, and the public besides safeguarding their autonomy CITATION BuX07 \l 1033 (Bu & Jezewski, 2007). According to Bu and Jezewski (2007), advocacy addresses social justice by championing for equitable access to quality and ad...