When discussing the topic of patient advocacy, it is vital for nurses to know their role and responsibility to help achieve this significant aspect of healthcare. With national nursing shortages, nurses are being pulled in multiple directions throughout their shift and their ability to truly be present with their patient and form a trusting relationship has become compromised. Despite how busy they are, nurses always have the duty to stand up for their patients and ensure that their concerns, wants, and needs are addressed. According to Milliken (2018), “Nurses must first recognize the potential ethical repercussions of their actions in order to effectively resolve problems and address patient needs” (para. 2). In other words, it is imperative for nurses to understand their ethical obligation to advocate for their patients. A policy that is greatly impacting patient advocacy is nurse staffing. Clarke and Donaldson (2008) write, “Nursing is a critical factor in determining the quality of care in hospitals and the nature of patient outcomes. Nurse staffing is a crucial health policy issue on which there is a great deal of consensus on an abstract level (that nurses are an important component of the health care delivery system and that nurse staffing has impacts on safety” (para. 1). Not only is the nursing shortage an issue for patient advocacy, it is an issue regarding patient safety as well. Griffiths et. al. (2018) analyzed the relationship between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes and found that “omissions of nursing care (referred as missed care, care left undone or rationed care) have been proposed as a factor which may provide a more direct indicator of nurse staffing adequacy” (para. 2). This relates to patient advocacy because by omitting care, nurses are not fulfilling certain aspects of care that patients deserve to receive. One way to address the issue of failing patient advocacy is to first address the national nursing shortage.
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