Answer 2 for NUR 550 As an advanced registered nurse, discuss your future role in advocating for equitable population health services and policies
As patient advocates and primary healthcare providers, advanced registered nurses have an obligation and role in advocating for equitable population health policies and even services. In its report on the future of nursing, 2020 to 2030, the National Academy of Medicine explores different ways that nurses can work with the focus of reducing health disparities and promoting equity while also reducing the costs and leveraging technology to attain patient and family-centered care (Wakefield et al., 2021). A core part of this role is to promote equity through policy advocacy and increased expansion to primary care interventions (Guastaferro et al., 2019). Nurses as critical part of the healthcare system focus on the translational of research evidence into clinical practice and health populations through educating their patients and communities that they serve. Again, nurses participate in offering feedback and input to national research entities on the different aspects of care that need improvement to enhance care delivery for patients. The third that nurses can use to promote health equity is through participation in policy formulation by interacting with patients, health populations and communities that need better healthcare services, especially preventive care (Sundean, 2019). The implication us that nurses must work collaboratively with all stakeholders to reduce the underlying health disparities and ensure that patients attain health equity.
Population advocacy can present a host of challenges or barriers to nurses. These include need for sufficient resources, support from the organizational management, increased collaboration that may not be possible, and experience as well as advanced skills to navigate the process and the diverse stakeholders involved in the process. Meeting these challenges requires nurses to focus on support and leverage EBP findings that will make it easy to implement a raft of measures in the long-term in advocating for population health.
References
Guastaferro, K., & Collins, L. M. (2019). Achieving the goals of translational science in public
health intervention research: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST). American Journal of Public Health, 109(S2), S128-S129.
Sundean, L. (2019). Overview of community, public, and population health. In D. R. Editor. & J.
- Editor (Eds.), Population health for nurses: Improving Community Outcomes(pp. 4-16). Springer Publishing. doi:10.1891/9780826148346.0001
Wakefield, M., Williams, D. R., & Le Menestrel, S. (2021). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. National Academy of Sciences.
