Advocacy can be defined as actively supporting an important cause. As a nurse, what does she support? Support the protection of patients' rights. The patient's interests mentioned above are divided into objective interests and subjective interests. Of course, we should support the maintenance of patients' subjective interests as well as their objective interests. The question is: what should be done when the objective interests of patients conflict with the subjective interests of patients? It should be handled properly. Under normal circumstances, to do the work of patients and their families, it is emphasized that the objective interests of patients should be satisfied first. However, patients who insist on putting patients' subjective interests first should also be guaranteed without violating laws and hospital regulations. After all, patients and we have different values. Modern society is a civil society. Members of civil society come from different moral identities and different cultures or subcultures. Although their values are similar, they are different. Social members from different moral identities, cultures or subcultures should seek common ground while reserving differences through consultation and dialogue, and cannot impose a certain moral identity value on other members of the same identity. The same is true between doctors and patients, and between nurses and patients. According to the above rights of patients, what nurses should do is to protect patients' life, health, happiness, informed choice, privacy, confidentiality and dignity. Because of their unique position in medical care, nurses know patients best, and they know how to safeguard patients' interests and rights better than anyone else.

Support and maintenance explain the nature of nurse-patient relationship and the role of nurses in medical and health care system. Perhaps we can use a metaphor to understand the concepts of maintenance and support: the relationship between lawyers and clients. The role of lawyers is to support and safeguard the interests and rights of clients. The client's behavior may harm his own interests and rights, and the lawyer's job is to convince him. The difference is that lawyers can terminate the contract or contractual relationship with clients, while nurses can't terminate the relationship with patients at will.

This support and maintenance is based on the above two basic principles, namely, interests and respect. What we do should be beneficial to patients, and at the same time, we should respect patients. Generally speaking, interests and the principles or obligations of respect are consistent, and sometimes there are conflicts. When there are conflicts, we should solve them in an appropriate way.