Advocating for Change to Improve Health in the Community Clinical Care Nurse vs Community Nurse

  Being a patient advocate is described as defending the rights of others by protecting their interests and supporting the patients’ decisions (Davoodvand et al, 2016). Advocating for a patient is a pillar of nursing. How a nurse cares for patients in the community is very different than that of a nurse caring for a patient in the clinical setting. Advocating for these types of patients differs in many ways. An advanced practice nurse is one who works in a hospital, urgent care or any other health care facility. One way an advance practice nurse uses advocacy for their patients is by supporting them through their current illness. Educating the patient on their current health condition is a way to support them through this time. The advanced nurse is also involved by helping the individual understand the process of care in the road to recovery.The goal of being a patient advocate as a clinical nurse is to help achieve optimal care and to help the patient have a clear understanding of the treatment plan (Nsiah et al., 2019). A clinical nurse reports directly to a physician, communicating their assessment to help manage the patient’s care. The nurse reports any findings to the physician who then can make any further medical treatments. The nurse is the voice of the patient in these circumstances. Based on the medical treatment decided by the physician, the nurse can inform the patient of their treatment plan but also voice any concerns the patient may have. The nurse is the middleman between the patient they are caring for and the physician who is deciding the plan of care. A community nurse helps decrease the risk for readmission for a patient who may have been recently hospitalized. They also decrease risk by managing an individual’s health care at