2023 Advocacy can be defined as numerous things nonetheless overall it denotes to taking action Advocacy basically

            “Advocacy” can be defined as numerous things, nonetheless overall, it denotes to taking action. Advocacy basically includes talking and acting on behalf of yourself or others. There are numerous sorts of action that aa individual can take. In the case of practitioner T.D. advocating for third graders in her care, she can practice peer advocacy, which means that she will be advocating for someone other than herself. Peer support programs involve individuals with previous patient or challenging social experiences to improve client engagement and clinical outcomes. This can range from informal visits and sharing of experiences to formal appointments focused on information giving and support in relation to the intervention (Jennifer MacLellan, 2017).  Some actions she can take will be to first request a social service referral to assess the home environment. This will reveal the needs of the family so that necessary social services can be implemented. As the practitioner she can obtain the necessary authorization to assess the children’s health and nutritional status, this will ensure that the children receive the proper nutrition and any missing essential vitamins and supplements needed to get them to proper health. She can also refer the children and family to get psychological services, which may be needed. Finally, she can put in place a care plan at school to ensure that services continue, and follow-up care is rendered to ensure that if the children did not have breakfast at home, they can get it in the school cafeteria.

            Moral distress, according to Andrew Jameton’s highly influential definition, occurs when a nurse knows the morally correct action to take but is constrained in some way from taking this action (Carina Fourie, 2017).  As a nurse, there have been several times when I engulfed in circumstances that instigated moral distress. I can recall taking care of a student that came to my office for a routine hearing and vision screening, however, I took notice that the student appeared very withdrawn. After checking into the patient’s health history, I saw that this student suffered with mental illness and was prescribed a certain medication that was supposed to be administered three times daily, but the medication was not available for me to administer. I first inquired from his parent, why this student did not have this medication readily available, and I was told by the parent that “I don’t think he needs it that often”. The problem with this situation was that the parent was misleading the medical provider into thinking the patient was taking the medication as prescribed. She also asked me not to say anything to the doctor, which I assured her that I cannot do that, and I have a responsibility to advocate for my patients in order to ensure safe and effective care.

            Health promotion relates to morality to ensure that everyone has an opportunity receive proper health services. Everyone should be given an opportunity to be free from illnesses and diseases which can cause serious illnesses and may even lead to death.

            Pertaining to my communication strengths, I am extremely comfortable establishing a good rapport and nurse-patient relationship. One attribute that I believe contributes to this is the genuine love that I have for people. I sincerely get great satisfaction when providing care to my patients, and patients are usually drawn to the warm reception and reciprocate the same attitude. Exhibiting a warm and caring attitude to my patients makes it easier for good communication to occur. However, I am very firm at times with my patients and with some, it is difficult to grasp that firmness and I would say that is a weakness of my own communication. Rarely, however, this firmness may cause a patient to be closed off and not open to establish a therapeutic relationship.

References

Carina Fourie, P. (2017, June). Who Is Experiencing What Kind of Moral Distress? Distinctions for Moving from a Narrow to a Broad Definition of Moral Distress. Retrieved from https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/who-experiencing-what-kind-moral-distress-distinctions-moving-narrow-broad-definition-moral-distress/2017-06

Jennifer MacLellan, J. S. (2017, November 28). Using peer advocates to improve access to services among hard-to-reach populations with hepatitis C: a qualitative study of client and provider relationships. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5704434/