Identifying Vulnerable Populations

Course overview

This educational activity is credited for 4 hours at completion of the activity. The role of a nurse as a patient advocate for the vulnerable was first instituted in the early 1850s by Florence Nightingale. Vulnerability is a general term that identifies susceptibility and one who is at risk for health problems. A vulnerable person is one who is at risk for poor social, psychological, or physical health. Patients within vulnerable populations include (but are not limited to) high-risk mothers and infants, the chronically ill, those afflicted with mental illness, persons who abuse alcohol and other substances, the homeless, those living with HIV and AIDS, those at risk for suicide or homicide, are immigrants, terminally ill, and are illiterate. To be an effective nurse advocate, the nurse must use the 4 stages of advocacy, which include the assessment of needs, identifying the patients specific goals, implementation the advocacy plan, and evaluate the outcome of advocacy behaviors.