| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES
    Custom Search


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive



Patient Advocacy - Articles Surfing

Every healthcare provider, from the blue color worker whose primary responsibility is the maintenance of operating room suite furnishings, to the cardiac surgeon performing high risk, complicated and life saving surgery, should be a patient advocate.

What exactly is patient advocacy? The moment a patient makes a decision to trust their life, health and wellbeing to another person, that person takes on an advocates' responsibility to protect the rights of the patient.

What rights need protecting?

The right to privacy. Sponges">All">All billing information, including social security number, age, health information, such as blood type, reason for seeking health care, are all privileged information that should not be shared with anyone not directly involved in the care of the patient. An example of information needing protecting would be the patient's chart.

The right to be treated in a fair and unbiased manner. Regardless of a patient's sex, religion, national origin, sexual preference, insurance, and or age, patients should be treated with respect, given equal opportunity to the same level of health care as others. An example of this would be the Medicare patient given the same treatment as the private patient.

The right to be treated with dignity. Patient's undergoing procedures in the hospital are often stripped of their clothing, glasses, hearing aid, wigs, etc. Healthcare workers may take it for granted that the patient understands the importance of this and may not fully explain when they are going to be touched, such as when electrodes for EKG are being placed on the patient's skin, or uncovered, as when a stethoscope is placed on the chest to allow the worker to listen to the heart. The surgery patient needs advocacy the most.

Surgery patients, in addition to having their clothing and belongings removed, are often put to sleep and cannot defend or protect themselves. Not only are they strapped to a table by a safety belt and arm straps, they are usually naked. They have to be kept warm. Nothing should be allowed to rest or press on their body, such as tables which hold instruments, or the surgeon or nurses. Unnecessary exposure of their bodies should be avoided. Only the body part being operated on should be uncovered. The anesthetized surgery patient is at the mercy of their healthcare staff.

Keeping equipment safe and the environment clean to further protect the patient is the most basic tenets of advocacy. It demonstrates the importance of each and every member of the healthcare team, from the housekeeper to the anesthesiologist.

Expand your knowledge on this subject at the following web sites...

Submitted by:

Michelle Winters

Michelle Winters is an operating room nurse dedicated to patient rights and dignity while under her care. You can read more of her articles at Digital Diagnostics



        RELATED SITES






https://articlesurfing.org/medical_business/patient_advocacy.html

Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).










ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B