A Theory for Patient Advocacy

A Theory for Patient Advocacy Synopsis

Patient advocacy for all human beings is a fundamental ideal as it assures the patient their rights and their safety when admitted to a healthcare facility. Nursing as a healthcare profession is complicated by the fact that it is concerned with vulnerable human beings, and ethical principles which need to be considered when providing treatment, or care for the patient. The logic for this book is twofold, the first justification for authoring this text was to enlighten nurses and other healthcare professionals to reflect on a dilemma which affects patient care and safety. A quandary in the literature which has been named a "Theory-Practice-Ethics gap" (Mortell et al, 2013). Patient safety and high quality of care are fundamental facets related to all healthcare practices. When people are admitted to hospital, they just presume that they will receive safe, quality treatment from healthcare professionals who have a duty of care. Society does not expect to be put at risk or be harmed, since the principal goal of healthcare is to augment care, safety and wellbeing, and so optimize the quality of people's lives (Leape, 2015; Wilson et al, 2009). The second justification for authoring this book, was to present an important new theory and model for patient advocacy to the professional healthcare community. The generated theory, states that, if healthcare professionals incorporate their religious, cultural and family values into their humanitarian ideals, they will be effective as patient advocates. The advocacy model which was generated the following components of advocacy, "Vulnerable-acy", which was advocacy for the vulnerable, "Familial-acy", which was advocacy that a family member would provide to a loved one, "Cultural-acy" was linked to culture, such as ethnic awareness and sensitivity, "Religion-acy" was coupled with a Muslim's Islamic holy obligations, however, this concept can be adapted for any religion and religious beliefs and "Human-acy", which identified a person's humanity and must be provided by any member of the human race. The theory and model is therefore relevant for all healthcare professionals and providers, as it has a neoteric Islamic perspective that will hopefully guide nurses and health care professionals to reflect as advocates for their patients and the care that they provide.

About This Edition