Nurse Advocacy: Obtaining Informed Consent From Patients

Nurses must advocate for their patients and facilitate optimal health, functioning, and wellness. These patient advocacy responsibilities include assuring that patients understand their medical diagnosis and treatment regimen, listening to the patient's’ concerns, and respecting their healthcare decisions (Ronnebaum & Schmer, 2015). Providing patient advocacy will continue to enhance healthcare encounters and

Registered nurses are required to deliver wide-range nursing attention and treatment to all persons in a healthcare setup (American Nurses ' Association, 2000). Notably, they have to offer emergency care and guarantee the safe execution of treatment. It is mandatory for nurses to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the laws and regulations that are in line with their profession. Additionally,

Provision 9, is about the nursing profession and all other professions and organizations in the health care field. They must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health policy. Articulation and assertion of values discuss how nurses have affirmed core values that we all strive to have to be able to provide the best quality of care. These core values though may be jeopardized when confronted with a conflict. This section in provision 9 does not greatly expand further, but throughout all of the other provisions, this is not a new topic as through the case studies done weekly, we are able to practice our nursing judgements and ethics to resolve case studies.

Nursing has never been simple or easy, nor is serving as a patient advocate. However, it is important to include advocacy as a part of nursing. Advocacy is standing up for the rights of all individuals and must include interpersonal relationships between nurses, patients, professional colleagues, and the public. Nightingale’s experiences in nursing demonstrated to her the value of advocating for nurses and patients.

According to people/superiors, nurses can use the right substantive arguments on behalf of a patient’s interests or needs. They accept that this expertise is important for patients because it is related to the quality of

The nation’s health is at risk and nurse should be encouraged to continue their education. Advancing educational levels help to prepare nurses for leadership roles and encourage autonomy in the nursing profession and practice. With health care policy constantly changing it is imperative nurses begin to design and advocate for healthcare policy to decrease or eliminate health care inequities. The American Nurses Association’s current definition of nursing is “the protection, promotion and optimization of health abilities prevention of illness and injury alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities and populations” (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2016, pg.

The feeling of being able to alleviate the suffering of an acutely ill patient is at once incredibly satisfying and immensely humbling. I am constantly in awe of the fact that by coming to work everyday, I have the privilege of helping others who cannot care for themselves. During my time in my Clinical Care Extender Internship, I developed a special interest in caring for the geriatric population and have had the opportunity of serving as a personal caregiver to an elderly woman with dementia. I do not take the trust and confidence that my patient places in me lightly and work hard to advocate and provide for her safety because she deserves no less. Thus, in the interest of patient advocacy, as a nurse in your facility, I will seek to improve the practices that will keep my patients safe and promote their healing.

As we transition into the new role of NPs, our scope of practice expands. Moreover, as our responsibilities increase, we later become policy makers, and develop autonomy and decision–making skills. NPs are responsible for providing safe nursing care with more specialized knowledge and advanced education. We are also responsible for pursuing continuing education and advanced knowledge to remain competent quality providers, and meet the needs of the community. With our acquired repertoire of skills, it is essential that we utilize them to make informed decisions and collaborate with our community to promote wellness and healthy living.

Many nurses do not get involved in health care policy even though the nurse should. Most nurses do not know much about health care policies, some view it as “foreign and complex” (Falk, 2014, p. 203). I consider myself one of the nurses that do not know much about health care policy and I am one of the nurses that do not get involved in health care policy. I do not get involved with health care policy because I was never taught about it, so I do not want to get involved in something that I do not know much about. I look forward to learn more about health policies and becoming more involved in health policies.

Rhetorical Analysis on an Exposia of Nursing Ethics In the essay “ Nursing’s Code of Ethics, Social Ethics, and Social Policy,” Marsha D. Fowler explains the history of Nursing ethics and what should be utilized in today’s society. Fowler explains to her readers what nurses should promote within the healthcare field. The purpose of her essay is to persuade her audience, whom are Nurses or someone who has background knowledge, into taking action. In order to explain the importance of ethics, Fowler uses two primary arguments emphasising, nurses need to have a stronger voice in policy making and they need to follow the code of ethics which was set for them.

Informed consent is the process by which the treating health care provider discloses appropriate information to a competent patient so that the patient may make a voluntary choice to accept or refuse treatment. (Appelbaum, 2007)1 It originates from the legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and from the ethical duty of the physician to involve the patient in her health care. In order for the consent to be valid, the patient must be competent to take the particular decision; have received sufficient information to make a decision; and not be acting under stress.2,3

The DNP student stated that she has not implemented her project yet and it could not be discussed at the moment. The DNP student did discuss on how everyone, whether a nurse or not, can advocate for the community. The DNP discussed on the pros on advancing one’s education. DNP essential eight: Advanced Nursing Practice is not just entitiled to practice in hospitals. These individuals practice in hospitals, clinics, home health, and in the

Informed consent is defined as the knowledgeable and voluntary agreement given by a patient. Informed consent protects patient autonomy and endorses trust between the medical community and the patient. If a patient knows that they are lied to, or not told the entire truth, the patient will lose confidence in the medical community as a whole (Eval, 2011). If this non-education does happen, then the patient will not be able to make choices about the end of their life, medially or financially (Piper, nd). Personal integrity is gained when informed consent is used, as the person is making their own choices, not having their family or others make choices on their behalf, when the patient is excluded for the education of the disease (Eval, 2011).

By Jonas Wilson, Ing. Med. Patient Informed Consent and Anesthesiology Informed consent may be defined as the process whereby a patient has the right to reject or accept therapy after being provided with information about the benefits and risks of that therapy. In more direct terms, informed consent is formulated on the legal and moral grounds of patient autonomy.

I am passionate about advocacy. As a nurse and officer, I must often advocate for my patients and the soldiers who serve under my leadership because I recognize keeping them at the center will improve overall outcomes, satisfaction and morale. Despite the challenges and push back I may encounter as an advocate, it is my responsibility to the patient and soldier. The competencies acquired with this specialty will mature my advocacy. Additionally, I will be