A Nurse's Story: Client Based Advocacy

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Client based advocacy is an important backbone to the relationship the nurse has with the client. In a 2017 survey by GALLUP nurses were found to have the highest expected honesty and ethics standards (GALLUP, 2017). Clients trust the nurses to be their advocates for the best possible care while in a vulnerable and often frightening time. In the healthcare setting the nurse acts as a bridge for the client to appropriate information and other practitioners in the healthcare system. Nurses are in the position to advocate for the various client rights and the rights of their family (CNO, 2015). In Tilda Shalof’s book A Nurse’s Story, the stories of working in an intensive care unit apply well to multiple examples of nurses acting as advocates …show more content…

When a client is in a vulnerable situation such as the patients in the intensive care unit in Tilda Shalof’s book A Nurse's Story the clients rely on the nurse to be their advocate. The nurse acts as advocate for the patient and their family for the patient rights, for informed decisions and for the patient to other healthcare professionals on their team. The nurse relies on his/her experience and knowledge to advocate for the best intervention for his/her client. Advocacy is a responsibility of the nurse, protecting the rights, care and dignity of the patient. The patient is scared, confused and in a susceptible position. Acting as an advocate comforts the client and his/her family making the experience, though often not optimal, as pleasant as …show more content…

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