The advocate role includes which of the following objectives?

• A. Restrict access to services to conserve resources.
• B. Prioritize clinician convenience over patient needs.
• C. Advocate to alleviate suffering, promote health, promote safe care, and encourage well-being whenever and wherever possible.
• D. Focus on administrative efficiency only.

Answer: (C)

An advocate’s job is to support the patient’s health, safety, and well-being across all care settings. They work to alleviate suffering, promote health, ensure safe care, and encourage overall well-being whenever and wherever possible. This means actively addressing barriers to needed services, ensuring patients’ rights and preferences are respected, and striving for quality, compassionate care.

The idea of restricting access to conserve resources contradicts advocacy because it places priority on limiting care rather than meeting the patient’s needs. Prioritizing clinician convenience over patient needs misses the central purpose of advocacy, which centers on the patient’s health and safety. Focusing only on administrative efficiency overlooks the fundamental goal of improving the patient’s health outcomes and safety.