Nursing Advocacy Case Study

Advocating is the promoting and defending of a specific cause; it is the supportive framework nurses build and maintain for every client that they encounter (Mahlin, 2010). Definitively defining the theoretical concept of advocacy is difficult due to its dynamic nature. Within the realm of nursing specifically, advocacy focuses on patient representation, confidentiality and informed consent. The advocacy role of the nurse includes ensuring the efficacy of a protocol or treatment, effectively communicating and educating the client and maintaining overall well being (Bu & Jezewski, 2007). Advocacy is mobilizing evidence, exercising voice and engaging others; this includes public awareness building and influencing public policy (Mahlin, 2010).

One example of promoting client autonomy would be when a client was admitted from the emergency department onto the mental health unit after a suicide attempt. The client is living with major depressive disorder and recently broke up with his girlfriend, which triggered a depressive episode. He had not showered in two weeks and was refusing to eat his meal trays the hospital provided. The nurses tailored a care plan focused on the client independently maintaining his activities of daily living, with the hope that this would help to bring him out of his depression. Every day the nurses would make a list of activities to complete, which amounted to an overwhelming task for the client, and in response the client shut everyone out. The nurses then employed the tactic of giving the client options rather than orders. The client still had to get himself to the dining room and shower everyday, however, instead of setting precise time lines, they gave him the option of showering before or after breakfast was served. This gave the client his autonomy, and freedom of choice, which gave him the motivation to complete his daily

Nurses are pivotal members of the health care team. Nurses work constantly with the constraints of health care delivery, which includes equipment, staffing and bed shortages that plague the healthcare system in Canada (Furlong & Smith, 2005). These specific inherent flaws and funding deficits in the healthcare system may not be controlled directly by one hospital or even the health authority, but momentum of change can be driven by the unified voice of advocating nurses and their unions. Due to the nurses close interaction with patients and their families in a wide variety of settings, they are the best candidates to engage in policy reform and service strategies (Furlong & Smith,