The role of a nurse is to ensure that a patient is safe in addition to getting quality healthcare. Since the years of Florence Nightingale, one of the famous nurses in history who advocated for safe care, the role of nurses has changed. However, the current nurses have diverse roles from leadership to patient advocacy to ensure that safety is at the core of nurse practice (Stanley et al., 2018). Patients spent most of their time with nurses in a medical institution. It implies that it is the nurses who understand better the position as well as the needs of the patients. The nurses have a chance and opportunity to hold a conversation with patients, which means that they are the best people who cater to patients' needs. In this article, the discussion is on patient safety and advocacy, especially how an oncology nurse can advocate for cancer patients as well as ensuring their safety during cancer treatments.
The Role of Oncology Nurses
Like any other nurse in healthcare department, the role of oncology nurse is to ensure that the patient under his or her care is safe and gets the best treatment the nurse can afford at that particular time. “An oncology nurse is a registered nurse who cares for and educates patients who have cancer” (Henry et al., 2016). They add that, “oncology nurses work in a multi-disciplinary team, in a variety of settings, from the inpatient ward to the bone marrow transplant unit, through to the community.” Henry et al. (2016) further state that, “they may work with a variety of patients, from children to the elderly, from outpatients through to palliative care.” One of the most critical roles of an oncology nurse is to assess a cancer patient. Their responsibility is assessing patients with the treatment’s side effects, and assessing patients during and after chemotherapy. Besides, education is another critical role an oncology nurse performs. An oncology nurse works mostly in palliative care. In this nature, the nurse is resourceful to the patient in that they give them hope of a better life. Most of the time, these nurses spent their time with the patient to educate them and provide them with the hope of a better life to help in stabilizing their health. Thus, they possess a high degree of interpersonal skills to aid them in examining the patient, assessing their knowledge of the disease, the process it involves, and the client’s emotion.
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The Advocacy Role
As an oncologist, a nurse has a huge role in ensuring that patients under his or her care have a voice that represents them not only in the hospital but also in the country as a whole. Cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases the human beings are facing in the current world. According to Ghoncheh, Pournamdar, and Salehiniya (2016), “cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally, about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. Approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries” (Ghoncheh, Pournamdar, and Salehiniya, 2016). The World Health Organization shows that cancer deaths occur mostly among the patients whose needs are beyond their economic level. In this sense, it is the role of oncologists to advocate for better cancer services and institutions that can care better for cancer patients. These individuals must contribute to a decrease in cancer not only in the United States but also in other countries in the world. However, people should know ways of advocating for cancer patients. There are numerous ways nurses can ensure that patients attain better cancer services from excellent healthcare facilities. The first is patient education. The nurses should ensure that patients within their care are not passive but are active consumers of healthcare services. In this manner, they need to educate the patient on better ways to minimize struggle during cancer treatments. The struggle in this context is both pain and the economic part. Most patients face a lot of tasks because paying for cancer services needs a huge amount of money. The oncologists can advise the patients to seek for financial assistance in some charity institutions to aid n treatments. Further, they can offer advice on the best facilities where the patient can get more attention and better services. In this manner, they will be enlightening the patient to be more sensitive to their health (Riley & Riley, 2016).
It is also the role of the oncologist to champion for a better place in the society for cancer patients. In this sense, they can collaborate with numerous cancer organizations that fight for the rights of cancer patients and also advocate for their well-being in the country. An excellent example, in this case, is the American Cancer Society, which is a well-known organization that has fought for cancer for many years. American Cancer Society believes that “access to quality cancer care is the right of all people” (Henry et al., 2016). Also, this organization believes that “Quality care requires safety, efficacy, and timeliness, a patient-centered approach coordinated by a multidisciplinary team, and the integration of evidence-based practice to continuously improve care”(Henry et al., 2016). According to the American Cancer Society, people should implement strategies that target reducing cancer risk, which is the best way to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality. It is also the best way to ensure that patients with cancer are less suffering from low life quality. By collaborating with American Cancer Society, the ecologist is in a position to ensure that the cancer services include detection, prevention, reducing the risk, clinical tests, treatment, psychosocial and palliative care, end-of-life care, and survivorship. These are the tenets to a better and a cancer-free society.
Finally, oncologists can also help a champion for better legislation in the country targeting a better society where cancer patients can access not only facilities with cancer services but better facilities with better cancer resources that are can stabilize their lives. In this manner, these individuals can organize and meet state legislators and make proposals on how best institutions should treat cancer patients. They can also propose better healthcare policies that can ensure that cancer patients are less alienated from the healthcare reforms. Further, they can also form cancer associations and connect to government bodies to get a better resource to help cancer patients’ access to quality health that is better for their lives.
Patient Safety
In the U.S., the Affordable Care Act, or the famous Obamacare act, places patients’ safety at its core. Henry et al. (2016) state that, “the Act’s aim is ensuring more people acquire health insurance coverage.” The authors add that “its other is improving the quality of healthcare and health insurance, regulating the health insurance industry, and reducing health care spending in the U.S." The World Health Organization states, “patient safety is the prevention of errors and adverse effects to patients associated with health care.” The Obamacare’s aim is reducing the cost of care, and this is critical to enhancing patient safety. Obamacare advocates for insurance coverage for all citizens, which links to patient safety. When people have insurance covers and quality and safe healthcare, the nation will reduce its budget. The rationale is that the medical staffs will have less worry about how the patients will settle the bill. In this sense, they have the assurance that the patient is in a position to care for the best services, and this will encourage them to give their best.
The Role of Oncologists in Enhancing Patient Safety
Oncologists have a massive role in ensuring that the patients under their care are protected and safe. It is because cancer patients are susceptible emotionally, and any mistake can hurt them. Nurses need to understand that emotions can lead to stress and depression, which can further complicate the health status of cancer patients. In palliative care, pain, the thoughts of survival, and hallucination are common, and these are sources of emotions that jeopardize safety. An oncologist must ensure that there are suitable environments for such patients so that their emotional security is guaranteed through education and ensuring that all is well.
The role of patients has changed in the healthcare sectors. Currently, the degree to which the patients get involved in their care procedures defines the care sectors. It is the role of a nurse to ensure that the patients are well informed about any process or medication that they are about to receive. In case the patients are curious about a specific diagnosis of medical procedure, it is the role of the nurse to ensure that such procedures are changed, or the patient gets the assurance that what they are about to get information of treatments is the best for them at that point. The same applies to cancer patients. Oncologists have a role of ensuring that patients are informed about all procedures like this the best way to ensure that the patients are safe.
There are many laws which ensure proper standards and safety for patients. These healthcare laws have a critical role in ensuring that all the medical staffs meet the threshold needed for the safety of patients. In this sense, an oncologist should meet the requirements to handle a patient. In the case of the complication that they cannot control, it would be safe for the nurse and the patient to refer the patients to the specialized person to handle the case. Besides, the medical sector has set evidenced-based procedures. These are critical in ensuring that organizations follow the right process while undertaking any medical operations. The nurse must ensure that the patients are safe by following the stipulated procedures while handling the patients. They should also adhere to standards and regulations to ensure that the patients within their care are safe and sound. In such a manner, the institutions will cater to the safety of the patients, and quality care would be inevitable.
In conclusion, safety and patient advocacy are vital roles of an oncologist. The patient depends on the nurses, and the nurses thus must retaliate by giving the patients the best to ensure that they have a voice and they are within a safe environment that would aid in their stability and quick recovery. At all time, an oncologist and any other nurse need to ensure that he or she acts as the voice of the patient, and minimize risk while discharging his or her duty.
References
Ghoncheh, M., Pournamdar, Z., & Salehiniya, H. (2016). Incidence and mortality and epidemiology of breast cancer in the world. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev , 17 (S3), 43-46.
Henry, N. L., Somerfield, M. R., Abramson, V. G., Allison, K. H., Anders, C. K., Chingos, D. T., ... & Krop, I. E. (2016). Role of patient and disease factors in adjuvant systemic therapy decision making for early-stage, operable breast cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology endorsement of Cancer Care Ontario guideline recommendations. Journal of Clinical Oncology , 34 (19), 2303-2311.
Riley, S., & Riley, C. (2016). The role of patient navigation in improving the value of oncology care. Journal of Clinical Pathways , 2 (1), 41-47.
Stanley, B., Brown, G. K., Brenner, L. A., Galfalvy, H. C., Currier, G. W., Knox, K. L., ... & Green, K. L. (2018). Comparison of the safety planning intervention with follow-up vs. usual care of suicidal patients treated in the emergency department. JAMA Psychiatry , 75 (9), 894-900.
