Advocate Secondary Prompt, which to choose?

[dogssaywoof]

Hi SDN! I am prewriting my secondary questions and I am having trouble with the prompt:
Describe a situation where you chose to advocate for someone who is different from yourself. What does advocacy mean to you and how has your advocacy developed? How do you see it linked to your role as a physician/leader? What risks, if any, might be associated with your choice to be an advocate?

I am an EMT currently and was going to choose a patient that I have advocated for and I am wondering which sounds better. #1 Had an intoxicated pt. that the ER staff was going to restrain because she kept trying to get off the cot but I had to explain to the staff that she had PTSD from an assault and myself and a nurse calmed her down (obviously would explain more elegantly). #2 had a Vietnam veteran that had suffered a stroke and hated hospitals and would not go to the ER, had to work with the wife to call adult protective services to help them. (more about have to find resources to assist the patient outside of my normal duties). Any advice would be great thanks!

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[LizzyM]

I'm not sure that those are really great examples. Keep in mind that the example need not be related the medical care. Keep in mind, too, that advocacy, as some of us define it, is about changing the system or advocating on behalf of groups of people to change a policy, get needed resources, achieve equity in allocation of resources, that sort of thing.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi SDN! I am prewriting my secondary questions and I am having trouble with the prompt:
Describe a situation where you chose to advocate for someone who is different from yourself. What does advocacy mean to you and how has your advocacy developed? How do you see it linked to your role as a physician/leader? What risks, if any, might be associated with your choice to be an advocate?

I am an EMT currently and was going to choose a patient that I have advocated for and I am wondering which sounds better. #1 Had an intoxicated pt. that the ER staff was going to restrain because she kept trying to get off the cot but I had to explain to the staff that she had PTSD from an assault and myself and a nurse calmed her down (obviously would explain more elegantly). #2 had a Vietnam veteran that had suffered a stroke and hated hospitals and would not go to the ER, had to work with the wife to call adult protective services to help them. (more about have to find resources to assist the patient outside of my normal duties). Any advice would be great thanks!

I agree with my colleague, as I explain my analysis.

The prompt really focuses on your advocacy skills as a leader, so any examples that are further away from clinical exposure will make your answer resonate with the prompt better. Advocacy is a leadership skill, and the question is specifically answering for your approach as a leader and a future [noting how this word is remarkably missing!] physician.

For me, I would ideally like to see an example from a leadership activity you have cited in your W/A section that gives me insight that you have had to make tough calls that could alienate you from other members but that you stuck to your principles or ideals (which you must clearly articulate regarding someone different from yourself [diversity/inclusion statement]). Otherwise, I would be under the impression you were a leader in title/position only and didn't really grow or were challenged in your leadership skills... which sadly is common in college leadership activities.

• Cultural competency
• Leadership
• Communications skills
• Diversity and inclusion / equity

 

[dogssaywoof]

I'm not sure that those are really great examples. Keep in mind that the example need not be related the medical care. Keep in mind, too, that advocacy, as some of us define it, is about changing the system or advocating on behalf of groups of people to change a policy, get needed resources, achieve equity in allocation of resources, that sort of thing.

Thank you for the reply! And I think I was leaning towards the medical examples because I was equating advocacy = patient advocacy, I see now that this was wrong of me!

 

[poachedprogram]

Agree with the people above. Leadership is one of the most important things in advocacy (I say it as a law student in past). I would recommend you find more materials on this theme on the web if it's still relevant for you. For example, "Just Mercy" was so useful film, especially for me. You may find here on eduzaurus some points from it. Hope you succeed with the tips guys shared here!