In general, the term advocacy refers to using one’s position to defend, speak out or support the rights of the other people. In the health care sector, particularly in the nursing profession, advocacy is considered by The American Nurses Association as a fundamental aspect in the nursing practice as outlined in the Code of Ethics for Nurses (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016). ANA believes that participation in advocacy is fundamental in improving the nursing profession. As such, ANA provides the necessary resources and information that nurse professionals requires in order to become good advocates (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016). It also supports state nurse associations in advocacy agendas and foster their engagement with policy and decision makers. Nurses practice advocacy when they use their position to protect the rights of the patients or support and defend proposed health care policies that they believe would improve the health care system. Nurses also advocate for the implementation of health care programs that focus on improving the lives of the people in the society (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2013). Therefore, it is true that nurses engage in advocacy for various reasons or with different agendas. This means that advocacy processes have various differences and commonalities. This assignment discusses the factors that prompt nurses to become advocates and the challenges they face in their advocacy agendas. I will then compare these drivers and challenges to my own experience as a nurse advocate and suggest ways that I can enhance my advocacy skills in the future. Answers provided are based on personal review of two chapters derived from the course textbook: “Taking Action: Nurse, Educator, and Legislator: My Journey to the Delaware Senate” (hereby referred to as chapter one) and “Taking Action: A Nurse in the Board Room (hereby referred to as chapter two).
Chapter One
This chapter takes us through the nursing and political career paths of Bethany Hall-Long, a nurse educator and legislator in the Delaware General Assembly. From the chapter, it is quite clear that Bethany became interested in politics when she was pursuing her master’s degree in community health nursing, a time when she was working with underserved people in her community. After completing her master’s program, she began working with the League of Women Voters, local government and a national health clinic for the homeless people. She later joined professional associations, completed her PhD in Nursing Administration and Public Policy and volunteered with various civic and not-for-profit organizations in her state. She served as a senate fellow and as a policy analyst for the Secretary’s Commission on Nursing. This working experience exposed Bethany to federal officials, international researchers as well as policy work at the national level.
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It is important to note that various factors influence nurses to become advocates. First and for most, Bethany entered politics with an interest of speaking out in favor of the underserved people in the community. Some of the pressing issues that she has been focusing include community health, access to health care, preservation of natural resources as well as education. After reading this chapter, I believe that Bethany’s education background is one of the major factors that influenced her to become a nurse advocate to an extent of becoming interested in “running” for office. With a master’s degree in community health, Bethany believes that she can play a fundamental role in protecting and improving the health status of her community members by influencing many policy issues relating to health.
Another factor that influenced Bethany to become a nurse advocate is her position as a university faculty member. During her working experience as a faculty member in nursing school, Bethany realized that expert health knowledge is lacking in the assembly. She believed that integrating health knowledge in the assembly would help in developing policies and health care programs that would be instrumental in improving the health status of the people. She also believed that integrating health knowledge in the assembly would bring forth many changes in the health care system, including modification of the nursing curricula to enhance the nursing profession. It is this perception together with her interests in improving public health that drove her to run for a legislative position in the assembly, which she won. Bethany believed that, as a nurse legislator, she would be in a better position to take part in policy and decision making processes geared towards addressing major public health issues in the community and the district as a whole. Some of the pressing issues she hoped to address include occupational health, access to health care, health insurance and veterans’ affairs.
As a nurse legislator, Bethany represents her constituents not only at senate committee meetings but also on task forces and public hearings. One of the greatest accomplishments made by Bethany is sponsoring various legislations relating to education, agriculture, transportation, natural resources, health, community affairs and the affairs of the veterans. As the only nurse in the Delaware General Assembly, she has also sponsored several health bills meant to improve the health of the community. In addition, she has participated in developing various licensure, public health as well as environmental policies, including occupational health, environmental justice, dental care access, cancer treatment and substance abuse prevention and treatment among others. With regard to cancer treatment, for example, Bethany sponsored the creation of a cancer consortium for Delaware to address the high mortality rates caused by cancer in the district.
The biggest challenge Bethany experiences is juggling between her family responsibilities and her work as a nurse educator and legislator. From Bethany’s writing, it is quite clear that her typical working day is always overwhelmed with a series of activities in school and in the senate, yet she has to accomplish all. For this reason, she begins her day at 5 AM in the morning so that she can find enough time to lecture her students and attend a series of committee meetings to discuss current issues affecting the people.
Chapter Two
This chapter takes use through the story of Marilyn Waugh Bouldin when campaigning to become a hospital board member and her experiences when serving as a board member. Marilyn’s political career began when she was appointed in the state board of health, regardless of her inexperience in the public health career. She participated in various community projects where she had an opportunity to assess various health needs of the community members and develop new programs for addressing those needs. She also served as a board members in various no-profit organizations and developed splendid skills in communication and teamwork. Marilyn then decided to campaign for board membership in a hospital in her district because she was confident that she had developed the necessary knowledge and skills to suit the job position. With the help of her friends, Marilyn obtained many networking opportunities with other nurse professionals and community members. This enabled her to mobilize people to support her candidacy.
From the chapter, it is quite clear that Marilyn’s mother influenced her decision of becoming a nurse. She would always help her mother to take care of the younger siblings after school. After reading the chapter, I believe that the need to improve health insurance coverage for patients is the major factor that influenced Marilyn to become a nurse advocate. Her main interest was to become a board member in her hospital district so that she could be in a better position to convince the hospital’s Board of Directors to support the establishment of a local clinic for the uninsured patients. Another factor that influenced Marilyn’s decision to become a nursing advocate is her position as the president of the independent non-profit clinic board of directors and her past working experience as a public health director. Indeed, these job positions not only sharpened Marilyn’s health knowledge but also enhanced her understanding on various concepts relating to patient care. Some of these concepts include professionalism, relationship building and team leadership among others. In general, she had confidence that her educational backgrounds, working experience and being an elected official in the state board of health would elevate her suitability of becoming a board member at the hospital district so that she would participate in addressing health issues affecting the community.
One of the main challenges Marilyn experiences is the lack of experience of running campaigns and serving the people in the political arena. Another challenges she experienced was when she participated in the League of Women Voters candidate forum. She was afraid that she would be short of answers because she had little experience in such forums. While serving as a board member, one of the major challenges she experienced was understanding the current operations of the hospital district. Therefore, she had to ask many questions from other nurse in the facility and read many publications related to the administrations of hospitals in general.
Just like Bethany and Marilyn, my current advocacy agenda focuses on enhancing patient care and improving the health outcomes of my community members. In my workplace, I advocate for patients by helping patients understand their health problems and make informed decisions related to health. At the community level, I speak out for patients by supporting policies and health care reforms that focus on improving access to health care services. For example, I support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that extends health insurance coverage to patients (Tulchinsky & Varavikova, 2014). As a nurse advocate, I understand the importance of building positive working relationships with patients and other health care providers. My work as a nurse advocate is also faced with many challenges relating to state regulations and insufficient funds to support some of my advocacy agendas. So far, I have exercises advocacy roles for patients, communities and policy change. However, I have don’t little to advocate for myself and the nursing profession as a whole. Therefore, I plan to expand my advocacy skills by mentoring new nurse professionals, participating in decision-making forums and becoming a member of several practice committees. In the next five years, I also plan to advance my education qualification to be in a better position where I can lead advocacy efforts focusing on the nursing profession as a whole.
References
Finkelman, A. W., & Kenner, C. (2016). Professional nursing concepts: Competencies for quality leadership . Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2013). Foundations of nursing in the community: Community- oriented practice . St. Louis, Missouri : Mosby
Tulchinsky, T. H., & Varavikova, E. (2014). The new public health. Amsterdam: Academic Press
