A nurse advocate uses their skills and expertise to facilitate the best practices and medical cares for patients. They may monitor, coach, educate and coordinate referrals into specialty nursing or disease management programs. They usually work with individuals with specific and high needs health risks.
Post Care
Some nurse advocates only have post care duties. They establish, maintain and develop relationships with discharged patients. They communicate with patients and other parties post discharge at predetermined intervals and milestones. They complete follow up reports, discharge questionnaires and medical surveys. They create strategies to improve patient satisfaction, outcomes and education. They also create strategies to improve follow-up with physicians, account managers and insurance providers.
They communicate patient needs and concerns post care program administrators. They obtain physician’s orders for home health services and communicate with referral sources regarding patient admission statuses. The complete and submit paperwork necessary for medical record keeping. They must have the ability to respond promptly to patient questions and concerns. They need to be flexible, self-directed and independently cooperative. They need to have the ability to handle multiple cases, projects, deadlines.
Resource Support
Some nurse advocates focus entirely on resource support coordination and management. They outreach to employees and their families to provide nursing advice. This guidance is usually related to meeting needs related to chronic conditions and complex diseases. They review and monitor medical reports of their clients’ demographic group to understand common care gaps, risk stratification and management techniques. They leverage multiple technologies for engaging in risk coaching, comorbidity identification and life guidance for their patients.
They may recommend that certain individuals enter appropriate health care programs. They encourage patients to follow up with primary care physicians and engage with disease management specialists. During their client visits, they may take their own biometric measurements, such as weight and blood pressure, to review progress. They share the responsibility of maintaining program timelines and recommending resources with health risk nurses.
Care Coordination
Some nurse advocates focus on ongoing care needs and services. They act as focal points for health care consumer inquiries. They provide customer service through various communication channels including phone, email and live chat. They provide onsite and unscheduled education sessions regarding available post-acute services and specific disease or medical condition programs. They use different tools and methods to provide a comprehensive overview of specialty offerings. They continuously monitor department processes to make recommendations to management for innovative ideas and r service improvement.
They make potential referrals by determining clinical levels of care needs based on medical condition, and then matching these needs to available services and programs. They promote a variety of health care resources that are tailored to individual customer needs. They may answer questions about billing, locations, directions, home service, preventative health programs, Medicare coverage, insurance information and recommended education. They help clients to navigate health care options, facilities, post-acute offerings and community resources.
Related Resource: Doctor of Nursing Practice
Advocate nurses will most likely be required with have a degree in nursing, a current RN licensure and at least five years’ nursing experience. They must have experience working with chronic conditions and condition management. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that nurses will need to have a four-year degree and current state sponsored RN license.
