Nurses are well-suited to serve as patient advocates because they develop close relationships with patients and families, provide holistic care, are skilled communicators who understand each patient's cultural and personal context, and serve as a key part of the healthcare team. However, current healthcare trends like decreased staffing and increased roles for unlicensed assistive personnel reduce nurses' direct contact with patients. As a result, patients benefit from nurse advocates who can coordinate care, ensure patients make educated decisions, and communicate patients' needs and concerns to providers. Nurses are well-positioned to fulfill this advocate role through their clinical expertise and commitment to patient-centered care.

1. The Nurse is the
patient Advocate
Sharon Gauthier RN/BSN/MSN/CCM
Patient Advocate forYou, LLC

2. Why Everyone Needs an advocate
• Nurses are key to patient advocacy because:
• Patient and Family
• Develop relationship with patients and families.
• Provide holistic assessment and care.
• Skilled communicators understanding the patient’s health
within in the context of their cultural and personal beliefs.
• Role of the nurse is the educate patient to decrease.
• Key player in interdisciplinary team
• Speak Up
• Do the right thing always!
Patients need a nurse advocate, nurses are key

3. Current Health Care culture
• Decreased staffing : acute and primary care
• A nurse is a nurse is a nurse
• Roles of unlicensed staff increased, as direct contact with patient decreasing
• Complex Patients, multiple health care providers
• Acute Care: Patients more complex, very ill, and decreased length of stay
• Primary Care: Economic crunch of practices, decreased patient visit time, lack of nursing
presence
•

4. Nurses- what we do best
• NURSES are clinical experts in caring for patients with a myriad of
diseases, conditions and symptoms
• WE listen to their needs
• WE have a sixth sense of what is wrong or what will go wrong
• WE are flexible
• WE love our job
• WE can hold our urine for 15 hours!!
WE ARETHE GLUE OF HEALTHCARE

5. What is advocacy and who needs us
• Definitions
• An RN Patient Advocate coordinates, collaborates and
educates on the behalf of the patient and family
• Assessing the need for advocacy
• Those who lack knowledge
• Those with little power
• Those who need to make decisions
• Those who receive inadequate care
• Those who are unable to communicate for themselves

6. Advocacy Goals
Broad Goals and Outcomes of Advocacy
• Ensure that clients, families and healthcare professionals are
partners in care
• Clients intentionally make educated decisions about the care
they receive, that affect their lives
• Ensure clients understand health issues and treatment options and
implementation.
• Support clients in choice for, or refusal of, treatment
• Provide knowledge, understanding and suggestions for
alternatives

7. Communicating with
Health Care Professionals
• Demonstrate knowledge and tact
• Include information about the client’s concerns,
questions, and expectations
• Call the appropriate physician
• Encourage direct communication between the client and
the appropriate health care providers

8. YOU are an advocate
• Change in our health care delivery system is an
ongoing process.We are the nurses who need to
continue to advocate for our patients. It’s our
duty to them and their families.

9. References:
American Nurses association
http://aphablog.com/about-advoconnection/
ALLIANCE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVOCATES
http://aphablog.com/about-advoconnection/
http://www.patientadvocateforyou.com
Contact information:
Sharon Gauthier RN/BSN/MSN/CGM
30 tower lane
Avon, Ct 06001
860-703-1575
Hartford-Glastonbury-Stamford
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

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