The nurse as advocate for vulnerable persons.

This paper discusses the following issues. Advocacy: in planning and implementing nursing care; in primary care; in terminal care; in nursing research; and in health promotion/disease prevention. That which comprises a vulnerable population. Continuum of vulnerability: the potentially vulnerable; the circumstantially vulnerable; the temporarily vulnerable; the episodically vulnerable; the permanently vulnerable; and the inevitably vulnerable. Damaging one's humanity and self-image: loss of independence; barriers to the ability to make choices; the absences and presence of that which is needed; and the loss of individuality. Types of advocacy: human advocacy; animal advocacy; political advocacy; moral-ethical advocacy; legal advocacy; spiritual advocacy; and individual system advocacy. Advocacy concomitants: risk; heat; and prevention.