Role of the Registered Nurse in Patient Advocacy

DQ5.2-Patient advocacy
Name Course Instructor Date
Specifically define the role of the registered nurse in patient advocacy. Describe situations in which nursing advocacy can assist patients within the healthcare environment. Defend why nurses are, or are not, adequately prepared, in prelicensure education, to act as patient advocates.
Nurses promote patients' best interests, safety, and rights, and one way to achieve this is through participating in policy changes. Providing patients with information is beneficial as patients make informed decisions while also making ethical choices. This is essential to promoting health care needs and optimizing health outcomes. The ANA Code of ethics supports patient advocacy where nurses are more directly involved in influencing changes in the health care system. There is active support for patient best interests (Butts & Rich, 2019). Nurses work closely with other health practitioners to improve access to health care and care outcomes.
There are different instances where nurses can advise the patients' unmet needs...