Workplace Advocacy

Nursing is defined as the promotion, protection and the prevention of illness and Injury, the treatment of a patient’s disease or diseases, the patient’s response to a disease, as well as one big thing that nurses are known for, and that is being a patient’s advocate nursing has been one of the fastest growing fields since the 1990’s (Mueller et al.,2012). Advocacy is defined as an action in which a person speaks out, argues a cause, supports and defends on the behalf of others. I believe that the role of being a patient advocate is one of the most important things a nurse can do because there are many patients that cannot speak on their behalf, I believe that it is up to the nurses to be those patients as well as all patient’s voices (Mueller et al., 2012).

This author spoke with several nurses to discuss Summa’s shared governance. There were two that had two opposing views of it. One nurse, who was younger, felt that the shared governance was just for show to achieve Magnet status. The cons she found was that the recommendations that staff nurses made were just ignored. Another problem she found was that the work that was put into it was not being reimbursed financially. Problem with shared governance is that it is believed to exist where there is empowerment, but it is has more to do with traditional board governance with some staff input. The result is that it is not founded in the actions of the staff nurse, but the actions of administration (Joseph & Bogue, 2016). The other nurse, who was older, was very excited to discuss shared governance. Her department was the first at Summa to initiate shared governance. Some of the pros were nurses had a voice and a path to follow to institute change. She explained how she

The four spheres of political action in nursing as mentioned by Mason, Leavitt, and Chaffee (2011) includes the workplace or workforce, the government, the organizations, and the community. The authors further stated that although the four spheres overlap at times, the action performed in any one of these spheres can cause a reaction in any of the others. Nurses are a part of the community in which they live and can influence health and social policy within their workplace, which can have a profound impact on the organization. Furthermore, the government can pass health care policies, which in turn causes the organization to change their policy. Thus, affecting healthcare providers in the workplace and the community at large. An example of

Professional organizations play important roles in regulating professional practice and supporting, the role of State Boards of Nursing in their roles. Professional organizations and associations in nursing are critical for generating the energy, flow of ideas, and proactive work needed to maintain a healthy profession that advocates for the needs of its clients and nurses, and the trust of society (Matthews, 2012). The characteristics and role of the history of professional nursing organizations, is the advocacy activities, of professional nursing organizations, directly related to the State Boards of nursing and practice (Health Care Reform, 2017 and Matthews, 2012)

In a profession where others' health and well-being are priority, there leaves room for neglect of those who are delegated to care for these people. As a professional nurse, there are many obstacles that arise and affect the care provided to a patient, as well as the livelihood of the nurse. The current deteriorating and unsafe staffing conditions in hospitals and other institutions prompts workplace advocacy as the universally appropriate concept for maintaining professional nursing practice.  Common

According to Mason (2016), nurses view institutional barriers and fear of retribution as challenges to policy making . The author mentions that advocacy, whether in behalf of the patient of in support or opposition to the issues is typically associated with some degree of “rocking the boat” (Mason, 2016 p. 35). Mason further explains that although many health care institutions respect the contribution of nursing and promote nursing autonomy, some nurses take a step backwards for fear of retribution. It is interesting to note though, that it is not just health organizations that have retaliated against nurses who were strong advocates: governmental organizations such as state boards of nursing also send mixed signals about nursing advocacy

Shared governance is defined as a professional practice model, inspired by the ideology of equity, partnership, accountability and ownership that will assist in the formation of a work structure that will allow sustainable and responsible decisions by an interdisciplinary plan to excel in patient care (Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (2013). Allowing this type of affiliation promotes collaboration, collective decision making and responsibility for quality of care of patients. Instead of having practices completely controlled by senior executives, shared governance permits nurses to have more power and be more independent in their field (Crow & French, 2015). Shared governance allows nurses to plan, make decisions and take actions with

Advocacy is a crucial role for nurses, however, its extent is often limited in practice. Powerlessness,

The purpose of this concept analysis is to clarify, define, and refine how patient advocacy is perceived in the nursing community. Much of the literature has attempted to define patient advocacy and emphasis its role within the nursing profession. This paper will discuss multiple definitions of patient advocacy from existing literature and refine them into two critical characteristics.

The focus of this paper is to expatiate on the role of nurse leader in advocacy and their responsibilities in the transformation of the health care in today’s industry. The role of nurse managers has a far-reaching effect on the overall shaping of the health care industry for the future American health system and most especially in fulfilling the expertise needed in the complex and dynamic health care safety environment. This can only be achieved with the help of the nurse leader willing to effect the change.

Nurses work in a challenge work setting; therefore, nurses must recognize the current issues of the facility and health care system as well as comprehend and utilize the optimal advocacy strategies to be successful and accountable professionals. American Nurse Association (ANA) provides five resources for workforce advocacy programs which include:

The mission is successful negotiation of fair wages, safe working conditions and exemplary patient care. Can the nation’s labor unions help nursing healthcare professionals meet these mission goals? Battles are currently being fought to preserve and reform the Nation’s healthcare system. Along with proposed changes to the affordability and accessibility of medical care, healthcare providers will be faced with challenges of patient-to-provider ratios, rising costs, falling salaries/benefits and change in patient care roles. Will quality care be provided and will the

According to Kadlec (2015), one of the ways to advocate patients is to work on regulation to stand for patients’ right, privacy and security . She provides a good outline for a nurse advocating in communities without delivering direct nursing care. When working on regulation, the benefit is not limited to one person or a family but individuals and families.

Davoodvand, Abbaszadeh, and Ahmadi’s (2016) research examines the relationship of the nursing profession with patient advocacy. Their work explores “patient advocacy” and problems the nursing profession has had in implementing it. In this article, researchers examined patient advocacy through the eyes of Iranian nurses. The authors noted that patient advocacy is a “hard-to-define” term, as it can be interpreted from many different perspectives. Due to the multitude of definitions and interpretations of patient advocacy, it is difficult for nurses to learn and practice patient advocacy, as it is not a concept that can be easily standardized and implemented across the board. After conducting a qualitative study involving interviewing several

Advocacy stems from the nursing philosophy that aims to holistically support an individual and enable increased promotion of their health and wellbeing. This concept is viewed as an ethical responsibility that nurses as professionals adopt and incorporate into their practice daily. Although