Can you please reply to the post below from one of my classmates. The discussion topic was the one you helped me with earlier this week. Two paragraphs will be more than enough. Please follow the grading rubric attached for guidance to the reponse. Thanks in advance for your help!

The article I chose highlights the importance of nurse advocacy within the healthcare setting. As a labor and delivery nurse patient advocacy is very important as it is my responsibility to make sure that my patient’s wishes regarding their care is being respected. One of the ways this can be done is through proper education “Nurses empower their patients and families to make decisions by teaching them about their disease, interventions, and/or reviewing consequences” (Sheehan, 2023, p.98). When a patient is educated and understands what is happening it gives them autonomy and power that can improve outcomes and makes for a positive experience.
Another point that the article touches on is the association between advocacy and power. As nurses, we take into account not only the patient’s disease but who they are, how their current health status will affect them long term, and the effect it will have on their family. (Sheehan, 2020) By encompassing all of these things within the assessment nurses are offered a unique perspective with which they can advocate for their patients and as Sheehan states (2023) “there is great power in perspective” (p. 98).
The final point the article makes is about a nurse’s ability to affect change in policy by using their power of advocacy. It touches on the different types of power and how it can be used in relation to advocacy. Sheehan states (2023) “Advocacy and power are words that can often strike fear in the minds and hearts of nurses, even though they use both of these concepts regularly while caring for patients. As with all things, advocacy skills improve with practice, and the use of different types of power becomes more comfortable with experience” (p. 99).
I chose this article because I think it offers an interesting view on how we as nurses have the power to use our voices as patient advocates to help create change. While the article ends with a focus on gun violence in school, I think that the information and the message that it gives would be very beneficial for other causes as well. It is our responsibility as nurses to advocate for our patients and one of the ways we can accomplish this is by using our unique perspective and the power of advocacy to help enact policy change.

Reference:

Sheehan, A. (2023). Introduction to ‘Nursing Power through Advocacy’. Pediatric Nursing, 49(2), 98–100.