Why Nurses Should Be Advocates of Their Patients

Nowadays the healthcare policy is more complicated than ever, numerous policies, regulations by government and health insurance agencies. All these issues impose great challenges and obstacles in healthcare making nurses’ job even more challenging. Unfortunately, most of the times patients and nurses are the ones caught between the cross currents of cost constraints and access to appropriate quality care”(Premji, & Hatfield, 2016). America is undoubtedly one of the countries with the best quality of care but all these policies affect negatively the patient outcomes. For instance, if you are uninsured you cannot seek medial attention, so if you are not able to afford having health insurance you are doomed. Coming from a country where healthcare is free for everybody, this is eye-opening experience for me.

According to the Commonwealth Fund (2016) 33 million people, were uninsured in 2014, down 13.3 percent since 2013. This means that 33 million people had no access in any medical facility and that if they suffered from a serious condition they would be unable to seek medical assistance. This proves that there is an intention on reducing the number of Americans who lack health insurance, but now with all this political instability and the intention to terminate the affordable care act the healthcare scene looks ominous.

After I have completed nursing school, I aspire working as a registered nurse for certain amount of time and then go back to graduate school to further my education. As a new nurse I expect to face a lot of challenges, but at the same time I am looking forward to getting out into the working field and having the opportunity to save as many lives as possible. As of right now, the only opportunity that I had to engage politically in the aspects of healthcare was through the Student Nurses Organization (SNO). Certainly this experience is minimal compared to the experience of other healthcare professionals but through SNO I learned how organizations like this function, and what it is like to work with other individuals with the same job as me. Every individual should strive to make a difference; nursing will be one of tools to accomplish that. Nurses contribute in our society by saving lives and by constantly advocating and reforming the structure and outlook of healthcare in favor of the patients. How can nurses accomplish that though?

The only way nurses can push for a change and reform the current healthcare system is by always be willing to step out of the comfort zone of their practice arena. This means that nurses should always question any administrative, governmental or organization decision that undermine the patients’ rights to healthcare. If nurses are willing to engage less familiar arenas where the laws and regulations impacting patient care are developed, quality of care will be drastically improved (Abood, 2007). I think that this aspect of nursing is intimidating for many new nurses, but my past experience from my other jobs and my athletic career prepared me for this challenge. My caring and compassionate personality is definitely important because whenever I see somebody in need I don anything possible to help that individual.

Nursing school prepares students in a small degree of what is coming. Every nurse learns the job as he/she gets more experience a lot of people get intimidated by that. Sooner or later everybody will be put in an unfamiliar situation that places them outside of their comfort zone. Personally though I don’t feel scared because I am a confident person who quickly adapts and gets the job done. With experience I will become even more confident in my abilities and strengths, enabling me to lead successfully my colleagues.

Every nurse should be an advocate for their patients, by doing everything in their power to ensure that their patients get quality and affordable care. I believe that forming a relationship with patients is critical; by doing this you are allowing the patient to trust you. One of the biggest issues that I want to tackle as a health care professional is granting all citizens access to quality and affordable healthcare. Coming from a country where healthcare is free to everybody, makes me infuriated and determined to fight for free healthcare for everybody. In my opinion, one other really important issue that needs to be addressed is preventive medicine. It is proven that preventive medicine, which includes vaccinations, screenings, and regular checkups help increase patient outcomes. Some of the most common diseases, like diabetes and hypertension, are result of lifestyle choices that would be easily contained and treated if the patients were following regular check ups with their primary care providers

The nursing profession carries significant legacy in political development and activism. Nightingale and Wald, both Healthcare innovators and leaders, are responsible for many changes that transformed the quality of care (Zauderer, Ballestas, Cardoza, Hood & Neville, 2008). These nurses were some of the most influential individuals in the history of healthcare, and their accomplishments are still inspiring new nurses today. Advocating for patients should be a goal of all nurses because engaging in political activism is the only way to reform and develop the healthcare system.