Development of the nursing profession: From nursing angel to patient advocate

Abstract

This reflection article deals with the nursing profession and its skills. The discussion begins with the birth of nursing and how it has advanced from the angel of nursing to scientific technical nursing in some parts of the world. The aim of this paper is to present a new kind of nurse, the patient advocate and its relation with clinical economics. The work of the “Patient Advocate” is based in the best health care, observing lower costs of resources, particularly those which affect the patient’s quality of life, and identifying and questioning the team’s decisions which are not supported by the principles of clinical economics. As a result, “Patient Advocate” is a proposal that encourages social actors to invest in the academic training of nursing personnel as well as in improving nurses’ clinical and methodological competency, proactivity, and leadership in relation to health care.