Here's how you can maximize career growth as a patient advocate with strong emotional intelligence.

Enhancing patient advocacy is not an easy accomplishment . To build empathy is not effortless . I have experienced settings in the health care field where one can be actually scorned for empathy. I have had to be strong and against the grain to practice empathy. Case in point: Years ago when in hospital postoperative ward. A nurse might come to me with a new admission and say to me,they want to see that boy”, in an attempt to guide my feelings. I could see the fear in their eyes and I understood not expecting surgery or hospital admission. I also understood that people regardless of race often live in different fringes of society where there is minimal interaction. I made sure bonding occurred while breaking stereotypes of all of us.

The issue in discussing patient advocacy is titles. Often there is a patient advocate designated and not in the common area of care. The difficulty is in getting everyone involved, regardless of titles that we are can and should be patient advocates. Practicing advocacy creates a warmth, acceptance, and commitment with all involved for a speedy recovery.

Being a physical therapist is largely about load management. Too much load and your body will break down. Too little and it won't improve. Stress is another word for load and the best stress management is to build resilience through appropriate dosing. I try to find controlled, safe environments to expose my team and my self to stress. The right amount can mean the difference between success and failure. Stress will never go away. Like pain, stress is vital to life and growth. Embrace it and appreciate it for what it is and what it can do.

I have to say that managing stress should be for each individual employee enhanced by a caring management staff. That seems more talk than caring. For instance in nursing, I have heard forever there is a shortage of nurses. What I have experienced is a shortage of good caring nurses complete with a management working with a minimal staffing plan to save money. Also nursing assistants some caring and some not further create more stress. Until we truly care about one another stress will continue to be profound and manifest itself physically and mentally.

Patient advocates should continuously learn and expand their expertise beyond advocacy to cover broader areas of healthcare. For instance, I’m currently pursuing an MBA in International Healthcare Management to deepen my understanding of healthcare systems, policy, and management, along with an online Patient Safety Specialization from Johns Hopkins University to learn how to create and implement effective patient safety & quality initiatives. By understanding bigger healthcare challenges and integrating knowledge from different fields, we are able to address systemic issues and improve patient care more effectively, while positioning ourselves for greater career opportunities and growth.