Advocacy Issues in Nursing & Healthcare Leadership

Given that nurses are among the clinicians who face high rates of exposure to these types of stress, it’s reasonable to ask what role nursing could play in avoiding or preventing insurance denials. It turns out that the research shows there are many steps that nurses can take to reduce the probability that their patients will experience an insurance company’s denial of care.

Recent survey results show that a quarter to half of nurses feel emotionally drained, used up, fatigued, and burned out several times a week, or even every day (NCSBN 2023). Nearly a fifth of the current nursing workforce has stated their intent to leave the profession by 2027, with a significant portion of those statements coming from nurses under 40. With an aging population and an ongoing need for healthcare services, America can’t afford to lose this much of its vital nursing workforce.

In the fast-paced world of healthcare, nurses often find themselves at the epicenter of relentless demands. Extended shifts, emotionally charged situations, and the ever-present call of duty can make achieving a nurse work-life balance seem elusive.

While a nursing job in the US is often advertised as the start of a new American dream for these nurses, many find the experience a nightmare instead, thanks to the profoundly exploitative business practices many international recruitment agencies employ.

It’s clear that what these executives fear most is not the actual cost of paying travel nurses but rather what that cost signifies. Nurses who know their worth and demand competitive compensation packages and workplace safety measures are a threat to the system at large, and they will do anything to protect the status quo because it’s working perfectly for them.

Transitioning from nursing school into clinical practice has always challenged new nurses. According to one study published in Nursing Economics, 17 percent of new graduate nurses leave the profession entirely within one year. To combat this trend, hospitals and nursing education organizations have created new graduate nurse residency programs to serve as a bridge between the classroom and the hospital, better-supporting nurses and making the process easier and less daunting.

Advocacy is woven deeply into the nurse practitioner (NP) role. It’s a part of the job that’s never finished. Advocacy can occur at a micro level, by advocating one-on-one for a particular patient, or at the macro level, by lobbying for policy changes; it’s often a mix of the two. For many NPs, advocacy concerns a particular issue close to their heart, one connected to underserved patients who deserve additional support. For Dr. Felesia Brown, the issue is health equity.

Advocacy is woven deeply into the nurse practitioner (NP) role. It’s a part of the job that’s never finished. Advocacy can occur at a micro level, by advocating one-on-one for a particular patient, or at the macro level, by lobbying for policy changes; it’s often a mix of the two. For many NPs, advocacy is about a particular issue close to their heart, one connected to underserved patients who deserve additional support. For Dr. Kelli Garber, the issue is telehealth.

Nursing, at its core, is the profession of caring for others. However, compassion, an essential trait for nurses, extends beyond caring for needs. According to researcher Beth Lown in a paper published in the Association for the Study of Medical Education Journal, “Compassion involves recognition, understanding, emotional resonance and empathic concern for another’s concerns, distress, pain and suffering, coupled with their acknowledgment, and motivation and relational action to ameliorate these conditions.”

Healthcare involves many more people than the physician and the patient. The modern healthcare team is a broadly interprofessional one, including nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, physical therapists, nutritionists, counselors, and social workers, just to name a few.