The Primary Care Nurse Practitioner: Advocate for Self Care

PURPOSE: To critically analyze the role of the primary care nurse practitioner (NP) as advocate in promoting health through self care. DATA SOURCES: Selected philosophical and theoretical texts and articles, scientific literature, professional standards, and ethical arguments. CONCLUSIONS: Philosophical reasoning and nursing theory must be used to validate and direct human practice. If self-care and well-being are desirable as an end and are defined as a movement toward self-determination, then the philosophical goal of the NP must be the protection and promotion of self care and autonomy through client advocacy. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The role of the NP must be defined by its philosophy of care rather than by its function. The influence of philosophical reasoning, nursing, and critical social theory impact the ability of the NP to promote self-care through advocacy. Understanding the lived experience is an essential component of advocacy.