Advocacy Drivers and Factors
Bethany Hall-Long practices and improved her advocacy through participation in different campaigning and volunteering activities. It helped her pave the way for a career in politics and keep advocating for improving the nation’s health and contributing to international research. It was important for Hall-Long to stand up for vulnerable populations and make sure that she could do whatever it took to aid the residents she represented (Mason et al., 2015). From economic development to healthcare values, Hall-Long tried to keep up with every update in order to be able to allocate essential resources and improve services.
At the beginning of her advocacy path, Alicia Georges was a nursing student who wanted to transform the community in a positive way and ensure that optimal health outcomes could prevail among the locals. Thus, the willingness to remain in line with community needs was a fundamental advocacy driver that pushed Georges forward (Mason et al., 2015). She is exceptionally skilled in conflict resolution and problem-solving, making it safe to say that her role – as an advocate – was to reach new heights in terms of negotiation and community board effectiveness. Thus, she advocates through understanding policies and disseminating essential knowledge.
Rita Wray’s journey as an advocate can be seen as driven by patient-centeredness. She always seems to aim her efforts at making decisions that are going to benefit the whole community and not just individual patients and their families. This means that Wray’s professional expertise is focused on human caring and leadership skills that could contribute to her effectiveness in the roles of a nurse entrepreneur, nurse educator, and nurse executive (Mason et al., 2015). Another way of advocacy displayed by Wray is active listening, as it helps her acknowledge emerging healthcare issues before they become widely recognized.
Linda Bolton’s primary driver for advocacy was the fact that she had to take on leadership roles rather early in life. It quickly became essential for her to take care of others’ concerns and create a healthy community by volunteering and ensuring that all kinds of relevant assistance are provided to the people in need (Mason et al., 2015). Bolton used her knowledge to get to several local boards and create a strong follower base that could help her resolve issues met by young professionals throughout their nursing careers. Lifelong learning is another pillar of Bolton’s practice, making her a strong contributor to communal health through the interface of diversity and attraction.
Individual Challenges
Bethany Hall-Long experienced the biggest challenges in terms of advocacy during the times when she intended to run for office. Even though it was evident to her that the local general assembly at Delaware lacked expert health knowledge, she kept going forward. The dynamics of the healthcare sector is one of the biggest challenges that Hall-Long has to cope with, especially when there are multiple activities that have to be carried out simultaneously (Mason et al., 2015). Eventually, the work-life balance can be seen as impactful because it tends to hurt the advocate’s well-being.
The biggest challenge that Alicia Georges might have met on her way to improved advocacy was the lack of access to the community. It meant that there were times when Georges was a mere silent observer who could not bring any real change to the table while having numerous ideas (Mason et al., 2015). Even the fact that she possessed all the required knowledge and skills was not enough to engage in interactions with different organizations, governmental agencies, and diverse community groups. Georges became a strong advocate because she found a way to speak up and ensure that her education is going to get her heard across a variety of nursing agencies and organizations.
Rita Wray identified the lack of investment opportunities and communication skills as two of the most impactful obstacles on the way to ensuring one’s advocacy hits the target. It means that Wray’s willingness to achieve mission-driven goals was often limited by minimal financial contributions and a poor pool of followers that shared her passion for advocacy and community health planning (Mason et al., 2015). In order to overcome these obstacles, Wray invested in her networking and governance knowledge in order to master the core leadership skills as well.
The greatest challenge for Linda Bolton was to maintain her leadership role and create a positive environment. At certain moments in her career, Bolton could not benefit from her leadership skills due to the lack of relevant experience in her peers. On a long-term scale, it meant that Bolton would have to speak out on fewer occasions because her follower base was scarce (Mason et al., 2015). Nevertheless, Bolton invested in her civic leadership efforts and established numerous connections with local patients and providers to ensure that her efforts were going to generate a positive contribution. All further advancements were achieved via Bolton’s influence on local boards and committees that had the resources necessary to develop the profession of nursing.
Advocates’ Experience vs. Personal Experience
The experience of Bethany Hall-Long is an exceptional example of how a healthcare provider could preserve a hard-working attitude and achieve new heights owing to consistency and perseverance. Even though I cannot fully relate to Hall-Long’s experience, my advocacy efforts are often community-centered, so I can be seen sacrificing my work-life balance to contribute to the improved well-being of all the community members. I am also doing my best to cultivate the ability to speak up on critical issues and become the primary source of change, just like Bethany Hall-Long.
After learning more about the story of Alicia Georges, I think it can be safe to say that she is one of the best advocates due to her strategic thinking and commitment to the vision and mission of the organization she serves. Her willingness to encourage others to participate in the change process represents one of the key factors that make me believe in what she does and how she approaches every obstacle. To my mind, the idea of looking at the evidence first and employing critical thinking is what might improve my own advocacy efforts and lead to the deployment of evidence-based solutions.
The experiences of Rita Wray that are linked to advocacy can be described as largely positive due to her close relationships with the local board and various sponsors. In a sense, Wray became an advocate due to being eager to tackle the most intriguing situations and secure the most unexpected revenue streams (Mason et al., 2015). I have not had similar experiences during my advocacy practice, but I believe that I possess the required leadership skillset that could aid me in terms of finding innovative approaches to community health issues.
After reading the story of Linda Bolton’s journey as a healthcare leader and advocacy specialist, I would like to highlight her willingness to volunteer and engage in different professional development programs. Bolton’s focus on learning can be perceived as one of the biggest contributors to her effectiveness as a leader. I am also driven by the ability to develop leadership skills and ensure that my mentorship efforts could improve local community health. My biggest achievement would be to replicate Bolton’s positive outlook on the nursing profession and engage in more instances of interprofessional collaboration to enhance patient outcomes.
Advocacy Skills Expansion
The first way to expand my advocacy skills would be to continue working on broadening the field of my expertise. It means that I would have to manage existing knowledge to pick the correct type of advocacy to resolve the problem. According to Rosa et al. (2019), this objective could be achieved with the help of individualized approaches to education intended to shed light on past experiences within similar environments. Another area of expansion I would like to investigate is the possibility of maintaining proper nursing records. From written to oral communication, I intend to invest a sufficient amount of my time in remaining informed and preventing instances of miscommunication. Rosa et al. (2019) suggest that this side of advocacy is still under-researched to a certain extent, leaving enough room for educating both patients and providers on the topic of effective communication. Ultimately, I will have to develop the right attitude in order to display strong leadership and ignore various sources of distraction. Consistent with Chiu et al. (2021), one’s reliability could seriously contribute to the outcomes of advocacy and its inherent effectiveness.
References
Chiu, P., Cummings, G. G., Thorne, S., & Schick-Makaroff, K. (2021). Policy advocacy and nursing organizations: A scoping review. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 22(4), 276-296. Web.
Mason, D., Gardner, D., Outlaw, F., & O’Grady, E. (2015). Policy & politics in nursing and health care. Elsevier.
Rosa, W. E., Kurth, A. E., Sullivan-Marx, E., Shamian, J., Shaw, H. K., Wilson, L. L., & Crisp, N. (2019). Nursing and midwifery advocacy to lead the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Nursing Outlook, 67(6), 628-641. Web.