In the medical field, there are people who support the policies set in order to improve medical services. Such people are referred to as lobbyists and advocates. Nurses are also categorized as advocates to their patients since they monitor every journey that patients take in hospitals. There is, therefore, a difference between the lobbyist and advocates. Advocates are also different depending on their area of specialization. An example is a political advocate and a bedside advocate. In regards, the essay points out the difference between the lobbyist and advocates as well as their similarities. The importance of each is also discussed as well as how organizations advocate or lobby for healthcare policies.
In any organization, there is a need for political support in order for the business to grow. Such people whose duty is to gather political support are referred to as lobbyist. A lobbyist is defined as people borrowed by an organization to influence lawmakers to support the organization or business. Lobbyists gather their source of income from persuading politicians to show support in a given organization (Andres, 2013) . The major responsibilities of a lobbyist are to influence the government’s decision to ensure that the set policies favour the business or organization (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . The lobbyist, therefore, contacts the legislators on behalf of the company to win their support while making policies. Examples of groups that lobby to achieve favourable public policies include ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Such group aims for favourable conditions that are suitable for the public.
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Organizations normally have advocates who normally speak in favour of the company. In legal matters, advocates assist in ensuring that the company is well represented in a court of law or in cases where the company encounters legal problems. Advocates, therefore, represent an individual or organization’s interest by adding support (Andres, 2013) . Advocates show support publically and speak out in places an organization is unable to speak. In the medical field, nurses are advocates to their patients since they defend their rights in various situations. Nurses act as voices to their patients by speaking out against policies that are not in favour of their patients (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . Therefore, lobbying is also a form of advocacy where a direct approach to the lawmakers concerning specific issue is applied.
By definition lobbying and advocacy have similar meaning when it comes to the target of the action. However, there are differences in both advocacy and lobbying depending on context and approach of a given situation (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . The major difference between lobbying and advocacy is that lobbying involves efforts to impact detailed laws at the resident, national or central level. Advocacy, on the other hand, is keen on educating about a given issue (Andres, 2013) . Lobbying is a small of the general efforts applied in advocacy. At some levels lobbying is nonprofit based, meaning that few funds are allocated to such activities. Another difference is that lobbying is conducted by experts who influence legislation while advocacy can be conducted by everyone who has information regarding the topic of interest (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . Advocacy also produces results regardless of whether the situation has been won or lost, unlike lobbying where the positive response is the measure of achievement. Those are some of the differences between lobbying and advocacy.
Lobbying and advocacy have their similarities in the manner they are applied. One of the similarities between lobbying and advocacy is that both involve representing a third party, which can be an individual or an organization. Therefore, lobbyist and advocates are representatives from a given party. When one is advocating or lobbying they are usually aiming to influence a decision form the legislation (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . The activities include convincing the lawmakers of the facts to consider while passing a policy in order to favour a community or a company (Andres, 2013) . Lobbying and advocacy are also aimed at influencing a change whether political or environmental which would favour a community. Lobbying and advocacy are important in ensuring that the government is productive. Lobbying and advocacy also help the government in solving interests that relate to the public since lobbyist and advocates represent the citizens (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . Without lobbying and advocacy, the government would struggle to solve matters of public interest. During advocacy and lobbying, the government is able to understand the policies that favour the general public and the policies that bring about conflict (Andres, 2013) . Healthcare is one of the policies that require both lobbying and advocacy skills. The amount spends on lobbying highlights the key activities such as medicines and creating disease awareness to members of the public (Drutman & Mahoney, 2017) . Organizations have also invested in pharmaceutical and health products to ensure improvement in health care facilities.
In conclusion, lobbying is defined as representing an organization or an individual with the aim of influencing the decision made by legislators. Advocacy is referred to as educating the public regarding some policies with the aim of creating change. Both lobbying and advocacy have their similarities and differences. One of the major similarities is that both involve representing an individual or organization so as to influence a change. A difference is that advocacy is more focused on educating while lobbying is focused on creating a change in the decisions made by the lawmakers. Companies have also put emphasis on lobbying for health care policies where there is an improvement in health care products and the public is educated more about diseases.
References
Andres, G. (2013). Campaign-Style Advocacy: A Broader View of Lobbying. The Forum , 11 (1). doi: 10.1515/forum-2013-0023
Drutman, L., & Mahoney, C. (2017). On the advantages of a well-constructed lobbying system: toward a more democratic, modern lobbying process. Interest Groups & Advocacy , 6 (3), 290-310. doi: 10.1057/s41309-017-0020-2
