Monday, August 3, 2015

Roles Of A Patient Advocate

By Francis Riggs


Patient advocacy is a specialization that deals with activism for the patients, caregivers and survivors. A person who speaks for the patient may act individually or as a member of an organization. They may or not be concerned with a specific class of disorders. Both the individuals and the organizations provide similar services to individual patients. Some of those doing the roles of a patient advocate work for hospitals.

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.

These activists are normally specialized on various areas. No matter their field of specialization, the goal is to advocate for patient rights. What is implied here is that no matter your specialty, you will be helpful if you concentrate on patients matters.

Requirements for a patient right activist depend on areas that you work. There are some requirements that are common for these individuals. The requirements will not apply in all situations and they may also vary from place to place. You need to know what requirements that specific organization needs before you apply for a job there.

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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