Explaining The Role That Nurses Play As Healthcare Advocates (Essay Sample)

Nurses as Health Advocates
Name:
Course:
Tutor:
College:
Date:
Nurses as Health Advocates
For nurses, advocacy refers to the ability of a practitioner to support persons with critical healthcare needs as one way of ensuring that each individual gets lives in decent health (Davis-Alldritt, 2011). One specific group that the nurses are concerned about is the veterans especially those returning from war. Without doubt, such military persons as well as their families have unique health needs that the government has not covered in a comprehensive manner. One need that veterans and their families require is psychosocial support due to the trauma that they go through during the war period (Jackonis, Deyton, & Hess, 2008). Besides, such individual needs constant medical checkup due to long-term ailments that recur as a consequence of the violence they experience during their war period. Unfortunately, over 2 million veterans along with 3.8 million members of their family lack adequate healthcare programs to address their health needs (Jackonis, Deyton, & Hess, 2008).
Consequently, a nurse needs to act as an advocate for such veterans and their families. As an advocate, a nurse has the responsibility to champion for the rights of such persons. For instance, the nurse needs to put forward a proposal for the development of a psychosocial support program to offer free services to veterans and their families. To achieve this, a nurse needs the skill of assertiveness by being aware of the rights of such persons (Begley, 2010). Secondly, a nurse may assist such persons by sacrificing their time to offer counseling to such persons (Begley, 2010). This demands that a nurse develop the virtue of compassion to offer such non-paid services to veterans. For a student nurse, it is essential to continue developing advocacy skills by working closely with experienced nurses and mastering the legal health procedures for pursuing the rights of discriminated persons (Paquin, 2011). Continuous professional development is essenti...