How do you advocate for yourself when things are just not going well, when physicians don’t seem to listen to you.
When you encounter illness at any time of your life whether it’s with you or a loved one how do you navigate to get to the root of the problem.
Advocate for yourself
With these 7 helpful tips:
- Reflect on your values and goals
- Beef up your communication skills
- Start small and work your way up
- Set firm boundaries, with consequences
- Be open about the good and the bad
- Work on your negotiation skills
- Practice gratitude and pay it forward
www.thevectorimpact.com/advocate-for-yourself/
Self Advocacy
Self-advocacy is exactly what it sounds like:
It’s the practice of vouching for yourself. In a health care setting, it means speaking up about your symptoms, voicing your concerns, and raising any questions you have.
Patient well-being, proper treatment and equality are essential elements of the healthcare industry, regardless of the level of injury, illness or condition each patient is experiencing.
Advocacy is an integral part of ensuring patient rights, and those involved in the medical field can advocate on a patient’s behalf.
I am sure you have come across some areas of medical practice where you seem like you just can’t be heard.
Self-Advocacy Tips
- Bring notes to be an advocate for yourself, you need to be informed and self-aware
- Listen to your body, you know your body better than your doctor
- Lean on your support system
- Ask questions about your treatment
- Coordinate your care
- Get a second opinion
- Don’t be afraid to find a new doctor
Tips for advocating for patients, yourself or your loved ones
- Develop strong professional relationships. Having a good connection with leaders, administrators and colleagues is important for patient advocacy because a supportive team atmosphere can help achieve successful results. Specifically, this type of connection can improve the processes for decision-making, discussing \challenging situations or handling high patient loads.
- Be both tactful and assertive. It’s important to be assertive when advocating for your patients to make other medical professionals consider your guidance. You can be assertive and still deliver your message with professionalism, tact and understanding.
- Get enough rest. Jobs in the medical field often require long hours and monotonous work. Be sure to get enough rest, as being well-rested can help you advocate more effectively.
- Advocate for yourself. It’s important to advocate for your own profession or position in the medical field, particularly as it relates to patient advocacy. For example, if you need more supplies, stronger guidance or better procedures to reduce patient risk and increase patient well-being, consider sharing your concerns with leadership.
- Take a class. Consider taking a patient advocacy training session or continuing education class to gain more actionable skills and learn best practices for patient advocacy.
References taken from Advocating Patients 10-ways
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion
This post was written by Lauren K., and published by Convenient Counseling Services.
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