Advocacy of Care (Nursing)

00:02 Hi, I'm Jessica Spellman and we're gonna be reviewing advocacy in nursing.

00:09 After taking this course you will be able to define nursing advocacy, understand specific organizational views regarding advocacy, specifically professional nursing organizations.

00:22 You'll be able to explain the types of nursing advocacy. List barriers and challenges that nurses face as advocates. Describe how to be an advocate for patients and the nursing profession. And then be able to summarize the importance of nursing advocacy in the profession of nursing. So I'd like to start with the definition of advocacy.

00:47 Advocacy is using ones position to support, influence or protect issues affecting individuals or groups. Sounds a lot like what nursing does, right? So an example outside of the nursing profession of being an advocate is an informed voter that cast their vote in opposition of or in favor of an issue on a ballot. That is the way the public can be advocates.

01:15 Within nursing professional organizations, position statements are developed by professional nursing organizations, nationally and internationally, that help guide the nursing profession in how we take care of our patients and highlight the importance of advocacy.

01:33 A few of the nursing organizations that I wanted to bring into discuss with you for a few moments is: the International Council of Nursing are nurses that advocate for equity and social justice globally and work to ensure social and economic services internationally. So the American Nurses Association is specifically in America.

02:03 Of course, it's made up of nurses also and they are responsible for articulating the values of nursing and maintaining the integrity of the profession and the practice.

02:15 The Institute of Medicine is another advocacy group.

02:20 Nurses are a part of that. Obviously, there's also physicians that are a part of that group as well, but they are in a position to advocate for the healthcare consumers more than the profession itself.

02:34 A few types of advocacy. I wanted to start with the direct form of advocacy and that's where you speak directly to those involved in policy decisions. F or example, calling a meeting with legislators, providing testimony, protesting. Those are direct way of dealing with issues.

02:52 And nurses can and should be involved at that level.

02:58 But another level that nurses are involved in is indirectly, where we influence the public's perception of issues.

03:05 So we might write letters to an editor or editorials in magazines, petitions for consumers to sign or just educating the population on the issues that they are gonna go vote on so that they are more likely to understand the issue and vote for how it will affect them.

03:31 Another form of advocacy is workplace issues. So we always think politically as the only form of advocacy but there's other types that we're talking about right now. This one is the workplace issues.

03:43 So nurses can influence either patient safety or nursing safety.

03:50 So within the workplace we may advocate for issues that are affecting patient safety or issues that are affecting the profession of nursing within that organization.

04:04 And I think this is the level right here that most people think of advocacy and are a little scared of it.

04:10 And this is the State, National, International Policy. It's approached by professional nursing organizations and they create the position statements like I said earlier that influence policy development, but, of course, professional nursing organizations are full of nurses! So nurses are functioning as advocates at this level not only in the workplace.

04:37 A few of the challenges and barriers that nurses face as being advocates.

04:41 The first is a lack of knowledge of how to address concerns and issues.

04:46 The second is the fear of being seen as a complainer. The third is fear of retaliation for voicing their opinion and their knowledge.

04:57 And the fourth way is they feel like they have limited time and resources to allocate towards being an advocate.

05:05 So I wanna address a few of those in order to overcome these barriers. The first barrier, being aware of the steps and the involvement in advocacy can help you overcome the knowledge deficit of not knowing what to do about an issue that you feel passionately about. The second issue, having knowledge of the issue will overcome the knowledge deficit and it'll look more like you are an advocate instead of a complainer. So just because we advocate for something doesn't mean that we're gonna be seen as complainers. It means we're voicing our concern for the population that we're taking care of. Third, advocacy is part of every nurses duty.

05:48 Discussing issues with administration or policy officials should not have repercussions.

05:54 It's in fact part of our responsibility to do this. So advocacy does not have to take a lot of time.

06:00 If you find an issue that you feel passionately about, talking to others about it doesn't have to be time consuming and it might actually be something that you enjoy in your work. So let's review the steps in advocacy that help you overcome the knowledge deficit of not knowing how to voice your opinion about an issue.

06:23 First, you wanna educate yourself about the issue. You wanna become very familiar with it and have facts to back up your opinion or your passion for that issue.

06:36 After you identify the issue and educate yourself about it, you wanna reach out to professional advocacy groups for help if needed.

06:43 That's what they're there for. They help nurses identify issues and find the right people to discuss the issues with. And then lastly you wanna identify and contact the appropriate person to discuss your issue.

06:59 Again, this doesn't have to be policy makers. This could be your nurse manager, it could be your director of nursing within your facility. It doesn't always have to be legislators globally or nationally. Why get involved in advocacy? National and international organizations have identified it as a role of the nurse to be involved in advocacy.

07:23 Nurses are on the front lines. We're talking care of patients and we have special insight into consumer needs.

07:30 In 2008, there were 3,1 million nurses and 660,000 physicians.

07:37 So nurses outnumber doctors 4 to 1. Since there's such a large number of nurses, it is our responsibility to identify issues with patient safety and the nursing profession and advocate for those. Nurses are well educated, we can communicate knowledgeably, we're empathetic, we're passionate about patient needs and about our own profession, and it's important that we use our voice as a profession to make change. So in summary, many types of advocacy.

08:13 Patient advocacy, nursing advocacy, political advocacy are all examples of ways nurses can function as advocates. There are several different forms of advocacy.

08:24 The first is direct, where we approach those involved that can make the change. Example: speaking to a legislator about an issue, or your nurse manager. Second, indirectly by educating the public about issues through the media. Advocacy is an expectation of the nursing profession.

08:45 However, advocating on hospital committees or within your workplace is considered advocacy.

08:51 When we advocate for patients in any arena, it is considered advocacy.

08:57 Not every nurse has to speak with political leaders in order to be an advocate. Advocacy does not have to be time consuming and it can be a part of your role as nurse that you really enjoy.

09:11 I am Jessica Spellman and this has been advocacy and nursing.