As suggested in the National Academy of Medicine 2021 report, happiness and general well-being are impacted by health. Thus, every individual should have access to opportunities to be happy and healthy (Hassmiller et al., 2022). The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path addresses that, to achieve Health Equity, nurses can work to minimize health disparities and enhance equity while reducing costs that may be used in healthcare services, using advanced technology, and maintaining patient and family-focused care.
Social determinants, including racism, stigma, illiteracy, and poverty, are among the underlying contributing aspects of health inequities. Also, unequal access to healthcare is a significant factor in healthcare inequities (Essel., 2022). Health care disparity typically is distinct of groups in access to, use, and quality of care affordability and health insurance coverage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aim to achieve advancements in individuals’ lives by minimizing health inequities.
Health inequality and inequity are terms used to describe unjust distinctions. Health inequities are differences in the distribution of health resources between distinct population groups influenced by the social status in which individuals are born, live, grow, age, and work. On the other hand, the health Systems approach reviews health inequalities as patterns within the larger rubric of different aspects of the human condition, including educational outcomes and economic development. Health inequities are unfair and could be minimized by appropriate and reliable government policies. Being uninsured, for example, has significant consequences, including higher mortality and disability rates, poor health outcomes, lower incomes because of diseases, and prolonged illness. In contrast, health inequalities require more advanced and dynamic system models.
Health equity is enhanced when everyone has a just and fair opportunity to be healthy. Nurses have a significant role in addressing the underlying factors of poor health by understanding and recognizing the various factors affecting people’s well-being and lifespan. Thus, nurses can help develop individual and community-targeted initiatives and facilitate and work with interdisciplinary and multisector groups and partners to implement those initiatives.
By expanding their role, nurses can impact the landscape of equity in the future by developing their roles, operating in new practice settings and advanced ways, and making optimum efforts to partner with communities and various distinct sectors. In the state, to make successful progress in achieving health equity, there is a need to devote resources and attention to the factors affecting individuals’ health and invest in developing nurse capacity. Nursing education institutions must shift learning, training, and mindsets to acknowledge nurses’ advanced roles.
Nurses can advocate for their patients by supporting appropriate resources, patient rights, interpreters, and cultural competence training to reduce disparities. Nurses may conduct screening, review individual results, develop care plans based on social requirements indicated by the individual results, refer the individual to appropriate professionals and social services, and carry out care coordination by creating a collaborative environment or interfacing with community health workers, social workers, and social service providers. For this to be successful, there is necessary to avoid making assumptions about individuals and recognize individual and diverse choices.
Due to the dramatic increase in nurses’ services, nursing professionals are particularly hard-pressed. Without specific periods of recharge or rest, nurses are at risk of developing chronic stress. Over time, this can result in various issues, including premature aging, decreased immune system function, or depression. Hence, adopting self-care practices for nurses is crucial. Self-care is any deliberate practice nurses can enhance to provide physical, mental, and spiritual wellness (Filoramo., 2022). It is vital for nurses who spend their duties caring for others to develop self-care to reduce stress, replenish their capacity to provide empathy and compassion, and enhance care quality. For example, Self-reflection can allow one to recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses and utilize these abilities for ongoing learning. By self-reflection, one will enhance their skills in self-directed learning, enhance motivation, and develop the quality of care one can provide.
American Nurse Association recommends that the moral respect extended by nurses to all individuals extends to oneself as well. The code of ethics advocates the reciprocal relationship between personal and professional growth. It is, therefore, critical for nurses to care for themselves as it brings that into the practice settings, and there is quality excellence. Also, it complements others’ duties and enhances a higher care quality provision. So, self-care is vital to the nurses and the patients, staff, and the health care setting.
Conclusion
The future of Nursing evaluates how nurses’ education, roles, and responsibilities should significantly advance to meet the increased demand for care services that healthcare reforms will develop and to create improvements in increasing health system complexity. The report addresses that to achieve health equity, nurses can perform to keep costs at bay, maintain patient and family-focused care, and utilize technology to reduce health disparities and enhance equity.
References
Essel, K. (2022). Social Determinants of Health Part 3: Promoting health equity. Pediatric Collections: Social Determinants of Health (Part 3: Promoting Health Equity), 3–4. https://doi.org/10.1542/9781610026390-part03-promoting_health_equity
Filoramo, M. (2022). Nurses as the patients and burnout as the condition: Self-care to improve patient care. Pain Management Nursing, 23(2), 237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2022.02.011
Hassmiller, S. B., & Wakefield, M. K. (2022). The Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to achieve health equity. Nursing Outlook, 70(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2022.05.013
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