health care advocacy

i decided to do an interview on someone who provides health care advocacy daily to give myself an overall overview of what it takes to be a patient advocate...............

The importance of patient safety and advocacy are important factors when establishing the urgency for better quality care with patients.  Patient-centered care is essential for creating an environment that patients are able to partake with their health interventions as well as generating an equal involvement between patient and physician.  With this growing practice of patient advocacy we decided to interview someone who encounters daily instances where he is challenged everyday to provide constant patient advocacy, and at times goes against his own cultural differences.  Rahul Arora a physical therapist from Heartland Rehab in Kalamazoo, Michigan comes from India where he was able to see multiple patients at a time as well as see patients multiple times a day where as compared to the United States healthcare system his therapeutic interventions are significantly shorter.  When asked about if he has had encountered a situation where you have had to be a patient Rahul states, “Yes, working as a therapist I have encountered several occasions where I had the role of a patient advocate. On this particular occasion the patient was having difficulty breathing which was only noticeable to the patient. The patient had poor lung expansion & was dull on percussion. Since the difficulty breathing was not apparent to me or the nurse & the oximeter depicted more than 90% oxygen saturation, the patient was about to be referred for psychology evaluation. The patient was very disappointed.”

Interestingly Rahul consistently stated throughout the interview process that, “A person who keeps an eye on the medical records as well as observes & listens to the patient. Also gives comprehensive input to his supervisor(s) & co-workers regarding his observations & concerns.”