Sunday, 26 July 2015

Roles Of A Patient Advocate

By Francis Riggs


Those individuals whose primary role is to listen to patients and represent them whenever their rights are violated are called patient advocates. They help the patients, caregivers and also survivors. They represent the patients and either work individually or as organization members. They may represent patients suffering from common diseases or major on all illnesses. Regardless of what they do and where they do their work, they should be aware of what the patients need. Some are taking the career as a patient advocate in hospitals where the patients are admitted.

It is an emerging career in the city of Sydney, AU which is changing faster. Nowadays, everyone is already aware that no patient should be mistreated or denied their rights. That is why some of the hospitals have groups of people advocating for patients. Because this is an upcoming career with no restrictions on qualifications, most of the people working in hospitals call themselves activists after long years of expertise. Some of the higher learning institutions are trying to rectify the problem by offering degree courses on the same.

The advantage with this task is that there are various jobs to work on. Not all of these professionals work in hospitals. Many of them find jobs in nonprofit organizations, insurance companies and in government agencies. If you have worked as a professional in hospitals, you can make use of these skills.

You will find out that these activists are specialized in various fields. No matter what field they are specialized in, their main goal should be to ensure that patients receive care as they need it and also ensure that none of their rights are violated. What it means is that no matter the specialty, one becomes important if he benefits the patients.

Requirements for one to work as an advocate depend on where he is working. Some of requirements are similar for all these individuals. They will not obviously apply in all the situations and variations are expected from area to area. A job seeker should inquire of the specific requirements needed by the organization.

Because these people work in a variety of places and have various responsibilities they tend to influence individuals differently. The area that you are specialized in will be a guide of how you are expected to assist. Some of them will work in clinics, nursing homes and the community clinics. Others choose to work as activists in insurance companies and other nonprofit organizations. Some government agencies also give jobs to these people.

You will not be asked to drop your current job when you opt to also work as a spokesperson. Because hospitals will never have fewer patients, they will ever require help of an activist. This role is new and very few colleges and learning institutions offer certificates and degree programs in this field. These individuals will mostly give themselves the titles when they start working for the patients.

If you already have the interest of advocating for rights of the patients, you will not require any formal training. All you need is to specify your area of work and then start getting the experiences as you work in that area. As pointed out earlier, most people working as patient advocates partly work in the hospitals and already have a wide base of experiences. They do these volunteer services when they are free after completing their shifts. It is not an obligation for them to do but actually they do this extra chore willingly out of their hearts.




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