Patient Advocacy Paper
Name NURS 486: Advocacy Assignment
Instructor Date
PART I: Patient/Family Advocacy
Goals for the patient and/or family advocacy
The patient advocacy scenario involved a 42-year old diabetic patient who did not know about proper diabetes self-management was encouraged to understand more about diabetes self-management by first being in a patient education program. In patient advocacy, there is a need first to evaluate the patients’ needs and identify patient goals, including treatment options. The healthcare intervention focused on the patient getting more knowledge would mean that better placed to monitor HbA1c (Hemoglobin A1c) improves dieting and more physically active. HbA1c reflects the average blood glucose (sugar) levels (Fortmann et al., 2020). For the patient, there was an immediate need to improve knowledge and awareness of diabetes management to improve patient outcomes.
The patient and family first needed to understand the need for diabetes self-management education and what is involved in achieving this. Treatment of diabetes should be based on the knowledge of the disease even as the immediate goals are improving health outcomes and the quality of life (Heter, 2019). The patient and his family were expected to benefit from patient education, while the patient would focus more on self-care and self-management. Patient education not only addressed preventing complications and improving health outcomes, as there is a focus on the causes, symptoms, and self-care.
Planning and implementation of advocacy actions
Setting an advocacy plan that meets the identified goals is necessary to implement advocacy action successfully where stakeholders, especially the nurses, are involved. Thus, there is a focus on getting stakeholders' support to increase support for more on diabetes self-management education programs and interventions. Nurses also play the role of teachers and educators in promotion and education, to improve the population's health and emphasize patient empowerment, including self-care and management. Patient education emphasizes training people to make informed decisions to improve health outcomes and ensure participation in the educational process.
Implementing the education program over six to eight weeks carried out by nurses and social educators is an option to meet this. During the first week, there would be a focus on sensitizing the patients and families for the diabetic patients. Older people with diabetes would be targeted to attend group sessions and individual appointments made, during the program. Later on, there would be a focus on home visits and meeting with the patient. For one day of the week, there is material preparation and reorganizing the program. However, the success of the program would require that the patients attend the program and are open to home visits.
Outcomes of the patient and/or family advocacy
Assessing the results of the advocacy, where the patient, family, and healthcare team are involved is necessary to improve health outcomes and determine ways to ensure the success of advocacy. There is more knowledge on diabetes self-care and management where the patients were better placed to monitor HbA1c levels and this indicates bet...