Explain the Risks that Nurses Take when Assuming an Advocacy Role. What Are the Benefits Associated with Being a Patient Advocate?
Nurses as client advocates provide support for the best interest of patients. Among many factors, when patients are impaired for self advocacy, nurses must assume the role of client advocate. The advocacy role promotes or reinforces the life of people or its surrounding when changes are enabling. Advocacy provided to a person occurs in situations of powerlessness or vulnerability. However, failing to advocate may put in danger the rights, welfare, or basic needs of a person. In addition, nurses may face certain risks and obstacles at the work place. Advocacy is not always success; sometimes it may fail due to
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Demanding tasks while documenting make this difficult to accomplish. On the other hand, Koernig Blais & Hayes (2016) expressed “an advocate must know how to provide support in an objective manner, being careful not to convey approval or disapproval of the client’s choices” (p. 71). These values will develop into benefits associated with being a patient advocate. One of the benefits is satisfaction of helping a person because there is an issue and a need for change. Some examples are smoking, domestic violence or alcohol. Nurses advocating on this can effect this changes in the long run and will make it easier for people to be healthy. The profession is also benefited when taking advocacy roles in public health. When nurses are knowledgeable and possess a vast amount of skills, they can take leadership roles, so they are held in high esteem and trusted by the public. Nursing image improve in an advocacy role that is active and constructive. Every action that demonstrate a positive action in our profession is beneficial since there is an ongoing shortage in nursing. To conclude, “advocacy involves