Healthcare is changing and with these changes come challenges regarding the best way to allocate funding to provide high quality healthcare and improve patient outcomes, while containing costs. Therefore, it 's imperative that we as nurses speak up and work together to advocate for ourselves and our patients in an effort to change healthcare policy and improve patient care. An advocate is defined "as one that pleads, defends, or supports a cause or interest of another and advocacy is the process of building support for an issue or cause and influencing others to take action" (Tomajan, 2012). Finally, skills needed to effectively advocate include the ability to problem solve, communicate, influence and collaborate (Tomajan, 2012).
Below …show more content…
Ivanov was only offered food at meal times and was told he his family couldn 't bring outside food into his room. Additionally, his daughter and son-in-law were primarily used for interpreting. However, I would have provided more culturally competent nursing care, by allowing the family to bring in hot milk with honey, hot soups made with beets and other foods, which are traditional foods believed to help the healing process (Purnell, 2014). I would have also placed the patient in a private room to allow Mrs. Ivanov to stay with Mr. Ivanov every night. Additionally, I would have used a credentialed interpreter for all assessments, tests and interactions to ensure effective and efficient communication was …show more content…
Ivanov was found to have advanced lung cancer and had metastasis to his liver and the physician believed he may only have a few weeks to live and now needed to give Mr. Ivanov this news. When the physician walked into the room, the daughter and son-in-law immediately got up and asked to speak with the physician outside of the room. According to Newhouse (2013), "in Russia the “bad news” would normally be given only to the adult children, not the patient, a custom that is obviously in conflict with current American practice" (p. 337). They then take the information they are given, make the rest of the family aware of the diagnosis and often times never inform the patient in an effort to "protect them from the truth", so they don 't give up the fight. The best thing we could have done for Mr. Ivanov is to be "sensitive to their cultural value of “having to protect” their loved one from the dangerous knowledge while, at the same time, respecting the patient’s right to know" (Newhouse, 2013, p. 337). Therefore, we are not only respecting the patient and the family 's cultural values and beliefs, but we are also following the oath we have taken as nurses and physicians to tell our patients the truth about their
Below …show more content…
Ivanov was only offered food at meal times and was told he his family couldn 't bring outside food into his room. Additionally, his daughter and son-in-law were primarily used for interpreting. However, I would have provided more culturally competent nursing care, by allowing the family to bring in hot milk with honey, hot soups made with beets and other foods, which are traditional foods believed to help the healing process (Purnell, 2014). I would have also placed the patient in a private room to allow Mrs. Ivanov to stay with Mr. Ivanov every night. Additionally, I would have used a credentialed interpreter for all assessments, tests and interactions to ensure effective and efficient communication was …show more content…
Ivanov was found to have advanced lung cancer and had metastasis to his liver and the physician believed he may only have a few weeks to live and now needed to give Mr. Ivanov this news. When the physician walked into the room, the daughter and son-in-law immediately got up and asked to speak with the physician outside of the room. According to Newhouse (2013), "in Russia the “bad news” would normally be given only to the adult children, not the patient, a custom that is obviously in conflict with current American practice" (p. 337). They then take the information they are given, make the rest of the family aware of the diagnosis and often times never inform the patient in an effort to "protect them from the truth", so they don 't give up the fight. The best thing we could have done for Mr. Ivanov is to be "sensitive to their cultural value of “having to protect” their loved one from the dangerous knowledge while, at the same time, respecting the patient’s right to know" (Newhouse, 2013, p. 337). Therefore, we are not only respecting the patient and the family 's cultural values and beliefs, but we are also following the oath we have taken as nurses and physicians to tell our patients the truth about their