Essentials of Advanced Nursing Roles and Interprofessional Practice AWM2
Advanced Professional Nurse as Advocate
Across all healthcare settings and at-risk communities, advanced-professional nurses
have an opportunity and an obligation to advocate for individual patients, including patients they
don’t directly care for. While the definition of advocacy is much the same outside of healthcare,
the way in which a nurse demonstrates their role may vary depending on the environment they
are in. According to Shoemark, et al (2021), “Patient advocacy provides nurses with the
opportunity to exercise their professional, moral and ethical perspective, promoting
empowerment and professional satisfaction.” Nurses advocate for health promotion and
preventative care for patients and communities by offering education or participating in the
development of social policy to achieve a positive outcome. Nurses have the ability to raise
awareness in their communities, to reach the most vulnerable populations, and can promote
changes within their communities in more ways than one (Hofmeyer, 2020).
A nurse can demonstrate advocacy at the individual level by educating patients in the
clinical practice setting to consider their healthcare choices based on their personal beliefs and
values. Advanced-professional nurses discuss and educate the patient about desired outcomes
based on their individual needs. Additionally, they can collaborate with the patient and family to
establish appropriate healthcare goals and ensure positive outcomes. Nurses continuously
advocate for patient safety and quality care in the acute-care setting as they are often the
individual with the patient the most and are familiar with their needs during that time.
Advocating within the community could include proposing implementation of a policy
directly related to healthcare needs of their community. During this process nurses often
encounter obstacles that can be overcome with the right resources. After reviewing health data,
identifying community needs, and drafting a policy proposal to promote health equality, they will
likely require a team of individuals from their community to ensure their voice is heard and the
desired change occurs. The team will assist in promoting community engagement and
participation toward the goal, solicit support from the community's governing body, and
establishing community partners. This team may be referred to as an Advocacy Action Team or
AAT.
Interprofessional Collaboration
Before a team can be developed, the advanced practice nurse must fully understand their
role. Competency in foundational transformational leadership will be essential to not only the
development of the proposal but, the nurses’ ability to build and collaborate with a team of
professionals working toward a common goal (Goldsberry, 2018). An Advocacy Action Team
(AAT) consists of a small group of leaders, each of whom possesses key traits that contribute to
the advancement of a policy proposal. Due to the vast number of social factors that influence
community health, an AAT's multidisciplinary collaboration strategy is essential for enhancing
regulatory frameworks to achieve health equality. Advocacy engagement and expertise are key to
a successful AAT, to achieve engagement, there has to be mutual respect and trust among the
team members (Hofmeyer, 2020). Obtaining mutual respect and trust among team members and
identifying each member's roles and responsibilities are two evidence-based strategies for
promoting multidisciplinary collaboration in the AAT. Advanced-practice nurses who employ
these strategies improve collaboration and develop an engaged team of individuals to support
their proposed community change
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