Discuss the importance of advocacy as it pertains to client care. What is the nurse’s role in client advocacy? Describe a situation in which you were involved with client advocacy. Explain what the advocacy accomplished for the client, and what the repercussions would have been if the client would not have had an advocate.

Advocacy and Activism-Sample Solution

Advocacy is one of the significant pillars of nursing practice as it promotes quality improvement and facilitates patient satisfaction and safety. Therefore, nurses should be on the frontline to speak on the patients’ behalf and collaborate with other healthcare providers and patients’ family members to address healthcare concerns in any healthcare setting. Patients present with dependence, anxiety, and loss of identity. Thus, nurses advocate for the patients to satisfy the patient’s needs. Advocacy minimizes physical and psychological suffering and offers patients legal, financial, and social support (Abbasinia et al., 2020). Besides, advocacy promotes informed patient-centered care where patients can understand their conditions and make ethical decisions concerning their preferred treatment plan. Advocacy builds positive nurse-patient relationships since the patients know that the health care providers are concerned about their needs and offer optimum quality care to promote recovery. (Nurse role in client-advocacy essay-example)

I experienced an advocacy situation during my surgical rotation. During my shift, one nurse had difficulty feeding a patient through the nasogastric tube. The patient was restless and attempted to pull out the nasogastric despite the nurse’s attempt to calm the patient down. One hour later, I learned that the patient was Hispanic and had problems understanding English. I used an app from my phone to communicate with the patient while translating English into the patient’s native language. I explained to the patient the indications for feeding through a nasogastric tube. The patient was satisfied and agreed to take the meal. I also informed the nurse initially feeding the patient about the situation. The nurse agreed to involve the patient’s family during care and use technology like the mobile app language translation to break the language barrier.(Nurse role in client-advocacy essay-example)

Lack of advocacy would have elicited adverse health outcomes in the patient. A language barrier between the nurse and the patient would have reduced care quality from poor communication. Breaking the language barrier by using technology and collaborating with patients’ family members will aid in improving communication and patient compliance to care (Al Shamsi et al., 2020). Inadequate feeding would have slowed the patient’s recovery. Proper feeding/drinking and a balanced diet are instrumental as it provides the body’s systems with energy, hydration, and nutrients required for recovery.(Nurse role in client-advocacy essay-example)

References

Abbasinia, M., Ahmadi, F., & Kazemnejad, A. (2020). Patient advocacy in nursing: A concept analysis. Nursing ethics, 27(1), 141-151.

Al Shamsi, H., Almutairi, A. G., Al Mashrafi, S., & Al Kabbani, T. (2020). Implications of language barriers for healthcare: a systematic review. Oman medical journal, 35(2), e122.