title: The district nurse's role as patient advocate: case study.
abstract: Controversy exists regarding whether or not nurses should act act as patient advocates. This article describes a case study in which a district nurse (DN) acted as an advocate for a patient, who was removed from his GP's register. A structured approach using six stages of advocacy (Bateman, 1995) is applied to this case scenario. Legal, ethical and professional issues are explored to determine the DN's position in advocacy. By acting as patient advocate the DN enhanced the therapeutic relationship with the patient and improved his access to health care. Although the extent to which a DN can act as advocate is somewhat limited, advocacy positively complimented and contributed to the role of the DN in this case study.
authors.affiliation: South West London Community NHS Trust.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pettitt
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D006113:United Kingdom; D035862:Vulnerable Populations