Influence health care through advocacy
by Marianna Derrico Robles
The practice of health incidence in nursing has been defined as a process of promoting the independence and autonomy of users as well as health services, it is also characterized by providing information on decision making in the area of health and offering support to the decisions that are made for the defense of patients, this being an important responsibility of nursing (Heck et al., 2022).
Therefore, we can define the defenders who watch over the rights and interests of patients and guarantee the safety of those who cannot defend themselves. It is important the self-determination of patients, as nurses we have to act and help as a resource between patients and the health system, as influence the heath care through the process to translate hospital policies and clinical information into understandable language.
Nevertheless, nurses are approachable and familiarize themselves with the policy, politics and advocacy in the health care settings, being able to acquire and complement knowledge on professional practice in different work environments such as the educational field, in hospital practice, private and public health care settings.
It should be noted that the responsibility of the defense of nurses when it comes to offering direct care through the hospital and domestic care organizations, the role of nurses as patient advocates is not well understood. However, advocacy extends to the broader social system, nurses’ advocacy responsibility for providing direct care. It is important to establish the relationship between the patient and the nurse, and understand their interests, values and what they want and need from healthcare professionals. Moreover, our advocacy should focus on the following key pillars: improving the patient’s health, helping thought the process during access to information, ensuring the quality and integrity of health information, and advancing the transformation of health care (Riplinger, L. 2022).
As well as there is an ethical imperative to do so, driven by the defense role of the nurse and rooted in the value base of nursing. In addition, the role of patient advocacy is important as the core of the nursing role, for this two things are required of nurses: first, we must expand the conceptualization of patient advocacy beyond the patient as an individual to the system, and second, see systemic change as an important and key factor in influencing human health (Scott, S.M., & Scott, P. A. 2021).
Today it is questioned whether nurses apply advocacy in different levels of nursing practice. Today, the nurses are engaged more than ever before, thought the lived experience provides during the global pandemic. Nurses are promoting health, advocating for patients, and advancing the science of care. Overall, nurses have high rates of exposure to infectious diseases and have been facing a global shortage of staff, studies of the disease, studies about effective treatment, and institutions have implemented unconventional practices. The most important Nurses being especially susceptible to burnout and can be be psychologically and physically affected. Instead, nurses are facing the pandemic, alongside advocacy for more support.
Heck, L. O., Carrara, B. S., Mendes, I. A. C., & Arena Ventura, C. A. (2022). Nursing and advocacy in health: An integrative review. Nursing Ethics, 09697330211062981.
Riplinger, L. (2022). Transforming health and healthcare through advocacy. Journal of AHIMA, 2.
Scott, S. M., & Scott, P. A. (2021). Nursing, advocacy and public policy. Nursing Ethics, 28(5), 723–733. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020961823