Patient advocacy has emerged in response to widespread problems in U.S. healthcare quality. Many patients are frustrated or even endangered by the care they receive. As many as 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors. Patients have difficulty establishing relationships with providers or getting good information about their conditions and find their providers unable to recognize their unique expertise about their conditions. This book identifies parent advocacy-from individual, to organizational, to grassroots policy advocacy-as a powerful source of pressure and as a potentially effective way to initiate needed changes in U.S. healthcare.As a contribution to the emerging healthcare quality movement, Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality: Strategies for Achieving Patient-Centered Care is distinct from any others of its kind in its focus on the consumer's perspective and in its emphasis on how advocacy can influence change at multiple social levels. This introductory volume synthesizes patient advocacy from a multi-level approach and is an ideal text for graduate students, as well as professionals in public health, nursing, and social work.

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