Innovation and Advocacy
“Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches,
letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.”
- Pauline R. Kezer
“You will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
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Overview
Innovation is the process of “looking outside of the box” and coming up with unique new ways of working with complex, convoluted practices. Innovation requires the imagination to envision something which has no precedent, AND the adaptability and awareness to make the vision come true. Innovation hinges on planned change in order to successfully gain adoption and sometimes, a paradigm shift in the stakeholders who will be influenced by the innovation. “Added value” or “enhanced practice” are the key motivators of most innovations in health care and society.
Advocacy is a set of deliberate actions in support of a cause. Advocacy is a political process that involves the coordinated efforts of people in changing existing practices, ideas, and distributions of power and resources that influence social groups and people at large. From this perspective, advocacy deals with specific aspects of policymaking, as well as the values and behavior that perpetuate exclusion and subordination. Thus, advocacy is both about changing specific decisions affecting people's lives and changing the way decision-making happens into a more inclusive and democratic process. Inevitably, advocacy will involve tensions. Activists need to know how to analyse, plan, and manage innovative strategies with a clear understanding of potential risks. Advocacy strategies will vary widely in response to particular circumstances, issues, opportunities, and constraints.
Advocacy should be regarded as a positive force for change. Besides bringing about important change, advocacy also enables citizens to feel that they have a voice. Advocacy empowers people, educates them, and if they are advocating on their own behalf allows them to play a part in determining their own future rather than feeling like pawns in a game controlled by others. Advocacy is not only our responsibility, as citizens, it is our right. Nurses can be key change agents to spearhead new and innovative projects for the provision of advocacy for various health and social issues, and the people affected by these issues.
Ends In View
This learning activity is intended to provide learners with the opportunity to:
1. Recognize the roles of innovation and advocacy in spearheading societal change.
2. Analyze the advocacy process and apply this analysis to scenerios that reflect current societal and health issues that require change.
3. Identify strategies that nurses can adopt to initiate innovative advocacy for change.
4. Synthesis the concepts and theories related to change learned in this course and apply them to innovative advocacy and planned change.
In Preparation
1. READ: CCOHTA (2004). Overview of Strategic Renewal in the context of a Canadian Health Technology Strategy, 2004 – 2008. The Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment.
2. READ: Sanson-Fisher, R. (2004). Diffusion of innovation theory for clinical change. Adopting Best Evidence in Practice. MJA, 180 (6 Suppl), S55 – S56.
3. READ: Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations.
4. READ: Canadian Nurses Association (1999). I See and am Silent/ I See and Speak Out: The Ethical Dilemma of Whistleblowing. Ethics in Practice for Canadian Registered Nurses. November. Ottawa: Policy Regulation and Research Division.
5. READ: SVAW (2003). Advocacy Tools. Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.
6. READ: Conners, D. (2000). Activism vs. advocacy: Will Canada's community-based response be relevant for caring for future HIV/AIDS patients? Sexual Health Exchange no. 2000-4.
7. EXPLORE: Canadian Healthcare Association. (2004). Policy and Advocacy: System Change.
8. READ: Sprechmann, S. (2001). Advocacy Tools and Guidelines: Promoting Policy Change Manual. CARE Action Network.
In Practice
1. Advocacy is an action directed at change. It is putting a problem on the agenda, providing a solution to that problem, building support for that solution and for the action necessary to implement that solution. Share your NRSG 4141 experience in relation to advocacy and change the process.
2. Rogers suggests that “change can be promoted rather easily in a social system through a domino effect.” How can nurses use innovation and advocacy to spark such an effect?
3. The Canadian Nurses Association publication guides nurses in the art of whistleblowing. How can whistleblowing become a form of advocacy? Give examples.
4. In small groups create a chart, table or model to illustrate a how you would plan an innovative advocacy program to address a selected current “hot” health or social issue that requires immediate change (can be local, provincial, national, international). How would you disseminate or diffuse this innovation to the public? To government or other pertinent authority bodies? Share your work with the class.
In Reflection
1 Nurses are critical and creative thinkers who are dedicated to promoting health, wellness, social justice, and holistic living. Who better to serve as innovative advocates for society? How will you use the concepts and theories studied in this course and NRSG 4141 to improve society?
2. In your mind, what was the most valuable knowledge and/or activities studied in this course, in relation to your current or future nursing practice?
References
Canadian Healthcare Association. (2004). Policy and Advocacy: System Change.
Canadian Nurses Association (1999). I See and am Silent/ I See and Speak Out: The Ethical Dilemma of Whistleblowing. Ethics in Practice for Canadian Registered Nurses. November. Ottawa: Policy Regulation and Research Division.
CCOHTA (2004). Overview of Strategic Renewal in the context of a Canadian Health Technology Strategy, 2004 – 2008. The Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment.
Chapter 2 Network. (1995) A basic guide to advocacy and lobbying.
Conners, D. (2000). Activism vs. advocacy: Will Canada's community-based response be relevant for caring for future HIV/AIDS patients? Sexual Health Exchange no. 2000-4.
North Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre. (1999). Change is inevitable, but growth is optional: A Self Advocacy manual.
Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations.
Sanson-Fisher, R. (2004). Diffusion of innovation theory for clinical change. Adopting Best Evidence in Practice. MJA, 180 (6 Suppl), S55 – S56.
Sprechmann, S. (2001). Advocacy Tools and Guidelines: Promoting Policy Change Manual. CARE Action Network.
Surry, D. (1997). Diffusion Theory and Instructional Technology. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 12 – 15.
SVAW (2003). Advocacy Tools. Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.
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Welcome to NRSG 4111!
APPENDIX
You are encouraged to begin to think about the type of nursing contexts and change model(s) you wish to address as the context for your major assignments in this course. We will build up to this practical application of the content early in the course. Try to make it a meaningful environment that you can actually use in your current or future practice.
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