Nurse Advocacy and its Relevance

Importance of Nurse Advocacy

What is nurse advocacy?

The relevance of advocacy in the nursing practice realm cannot be overstated. In the words of Hubinette, Dobson, Scott, and Sherbino (2017), nurse advocacy could be conceptualized as the various “activities related to ensuring access to care, navigating the system, mobilizing resources, addressing health inequities, influencing health policy and creating system change” (128). Thus, it involves the support for patient wellbeing as well as safety.

Why should nurses get involved in public health policy?

According to Hajizadeh, Zamanzadeh, Kakemam, Bahreini, and Khodayari-Zarnaq (2021), owing to the nature of their functions, nurses happen to be in close proximity to patients. For this reason, they have better and more comprehensive understanding of the various needs of patients. For this reason, the authors are categorical that the viewpoints of nurses could be of great relevance in the formulation of healthcare policy. Further, the authors also indicate that nurses are crucial players in the realm of healthcare. For this reason, they ought to be involved in public health policy as they are best placed to determine policies that are likely to support their work setting. A supportive work setting would result in better patient outcomes.

How can nurses get involved?

There are various formats through which nurses could be involved in public health policy at not only the state, but also at the federal level. To begin with, one of the most viable routes is by writing directly to the reverent government officials, i.e. the state representative, and outlining the concern or issue as well as suggested interventions. Yet another viable route happens to be by way of becoming a member of the relevant professional nursing organization and handing over suggestions to lobbyists within such an organization, which could then be forwarded to Capitol Hill (Loversidge and Zurmehly, 2019).