Perioperative Patient Advocacy: An Integrative Review

Purpose: The purpose of this review was to identify the characteristics and consequences of perioperative patient advocacy. Design: An integrative review method was employed. Methods: A database search to identify peer-reviewed articles that focused on perioperative patient advocacy was conducted in PubMed and CI-NAHL, followed by a manual search for additional articles. Studies were selected if they reported original empirical research findings with regard to perioperative patient advocacy. The data abstraction and synthesis were achieved with an inductive qualitative content analysis. Finding: The analysis resulted in seven categories, two subthemes, and one main theme. The main theme, "Doing good for another human being a balancing act between philanthropy and personal gratification," was the core of perioperative patient advocacy. Conclusion: Perioperative patient advocacy is part of the professional role of the perioperative nurse, and it affects the perioperative nurse emotionally. This advocacy shares similarities with descriptions of patient advocacy in general nursing.