Nurse Advocacy: Teaching Nursing Students the Importance of Advocacy

"My hope is that nursing students I have the honor of working with see advocacy and activism as central to nursing identity development."

Claire Valderama-Wallace, MS, MPH, RN, PHN

I am an advocate because I have privileges and rights that those who came before me fought for and I want to be able to tell my children and students that advocacy and activism are our responsibilities.

Being a nurse and a nurse educator means amplifying voices and passing the microphone to those in marginalized and minority communities. Health inequities are the consequences of targeted divestment and disinvestment and I see that the marginalization of public health perpetuates and exacerbates these inequities.

A mentor once told me, "The more you know, the more you owe." My hope is that my nursing students see advocacy and activism as central to nursing and patient care.