I am a Nurse Advocate

Being a nurse advocate is a calling. One of the greatest roles a nurse has is being an advocate. Knowing that I have the skills to be able to help my fellow nurses is an honor. Nurses need as many advocates as possible during this time in healthcare. Nurses are living through so much uncertainty and left questioning their foundational principles. The training was always based on the ability to critically think and look at a patient in the mind, body, spirit domains. The goal is for nurses to help their patients to achieve optimal wellness. My goal is for my fellow nurses to achieve optimal wellness.

The need for nurses to have advocates is at an all time high. Why? The medical warriors that people know of as nurses are exhausted. The exhaustion is both mental and physical. How much more stress can the profession and individuals take before they have had enough? Prevention and Early intervention would be ideal. Should those options no longer be available the next best option is intervention. Sadly, there are many elephants in the room that no one wants to address. The nurses are burning out on the frontline. There are not enough nurses to replace the need for nurses in healthcare. Qualified applicants are being turned away from nursing schools because of a lack of educators at the university level. There is not plan for the implosion that is coming. Between retirement and burn out, who will replace the nurses? Since there is no answer right now, preserve the ones you have. Thriving instead of survival is optimal wellness. The goal for each of those that I advocate for is for them to reach optimal wellness with peace of mind.

With all of that being said, the following in random order are the Top 10 Reasons I am a Nurse Advocate:

• In the USA, nurses represent 84.5% of the healthcare profession
• Nurses like to complain
• Nurses do not participate in self care on a daily basis
• You cannot tell nurses what to do. A fellow nurse understands the mindset when it comes down to something “being wrong”.
• An advocate is your strength until you are able to take over
• Nurses have traditionally eaten their young
• The time has come for traditions of compassion and support
• You have the ability to take care of yourself, your patients and your loved ones and still have energy left over
• Nurses do not recognize their worth
• My fellow nurses are suffering and need someone to help them with healing and then showing them how to thrive!