Advocacy in nursing care in the light of palliative care of cancer patients
Abstract
In palliative care of cancer patients, the quality of decision taking is of utmost importance. When the patient is presented with invasive treatment methods, he has to choose among treatment benefits, side effects of the treatment and quality of life. Because of all these reasons it is impossible to overlook important and necessary role of the nurse as a patient’s advocate. Advocacy is carried out by several professional and voluntary groups working inside or outside the system of health care. The roles of advocates are clearly defined. In comparison with all the other models of advocacy the meaning and model of advocacy in nursing care are not clear, while the characteristic of all models is personal autonomy. Theoreticians, teachers and practitioners of nursing care promote nurse as an “ideal” patient advocate. The reasons for it are the following: advocacy of patients is a traditional role of a nurse, nurses occupy the best position inside the health team to carry out advocacy, nurses can act as patients’ advocates and patients can assume a partner role. However, regardless of the fact that the profession of nursing care traditionally accepts this role, for a nurse to perform the role of a patient’s advocate and to pursue this career, public and legal support is required. Until then, advocacy will represent a risky career direction.Downloads
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