There are revolutionary factors that are positively influencing healthcare transformation all over the world. Strategies continue to be instituted to ensure increased access to care and counter critical healthcare emergencies. Regardless of the development, healthcare disparities continue to be a significant concern among different healthcare stakeholders. Social determinants of health such as social-economic status, education level, neighborhood condition, and employment continue to create a substantial difference in health outcomes. This factor calls for the institution of strategies that enhance desirable health outcomes among different populations. While these environmental aspects are to watch for, race continues to exacerbate such outcomes. Regardless of the dynamics that influence health disparities, nurses and other healthcare stakeholders have a role to play in instituting positive change and ensuring desirable health outcomes, especially in segregated populations and the minority.
Nurses are well suited to contribute towards transformative changes in reducing health disparities because of their education and healthcare provision experiences. Reinforcement of care coordination is a way nurses can be part of transformation (Salmond et al., 2019). An integrated care continuum’s main objectives are low cost healthcare services, increased access to care, and better quality services. The integrative activities that revamp the efforts to improve care coordination are instrumental roles nurses can play. Nurses are also tasked with drawing attention to areas needing immediate intervention, such as patient satisfaction, effective utilization of healthcare-related resources, and healthcare quality. Through continuous collaboration with the government and other stakeholders, nurses can endorse a healthcare provision model that enhances care coordination for patients, whether in the short or long run. Most importantly, as these nurses develop care plans and suggest strategies that ensure patient-centered healthcare, they voice out their concerns about care coordination through entities such as the American Nurses Association. This organization is instrumental in drawing attention to nurses’ role in care coordination and the need for payment of certain services that might be distant but are a distinct part of patient care.
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Although nurses are an instrumental resource in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, significant barriers derail them from achieving objectives such as care coordination, professional development, and patient health advocacy, all of which are instrumental in attaining the primary goal. Regardless, nurse leaders can be at the forefront in ensuring these challenges are dealt with. Some of the barriers include little diversity in the nurse workforce, rigid organizational structures, and scope of practice that are significantly restrictive to nurses’ practice are other significant barriers (Poghosyan et al., 2017). Reimbursement policies that are not flexible enough in the reimbursement mechanisms of nurse practitioners also indirectly negatively influence nurses’ ability to reduce health disparities. Regardless, nurses can strategize around such challenges by making decisions that help them better counter the challenges. In unfavorable work environments related to high levels of stress and burnout, nurses can be involved in industrial action and continuous advocacy for their rights. Ongoing professional development and undertaking competency-related assessment are also central to overcoming some barriers such as restrictions in care provision. While this is based on the state’s bylaws, nurses can strive to achieve particular hours of practice to expand their scope of practice. Another important role they can play to counter such barriers is to be part of transformational nurse leadership that encourages diversity. Such leaders can orchestrate the formulation of programs that support the professional advancement of nurses from minority groups. In such programs, they can be positively influenced to be agents of change in their communities, especially reducing adverse health outcomes and increasing primary care access.
Proactive leadership among nurse leaders can influence nurse empowerment and advocacy. These factors help nurses on different levels of care provision influence policy formulation and ensure patient- and family-centered care, which go a long way in reducing health disparities (Salmond et al., 2019). When nurses are empowered through skills enhancement, leadership development, provision of research opportunities, and provision of benefits that enable them to actualize their professional and personal development goals, they are likely to be mentally and physically stable to influence patient- and family-centered Care positively. Solid knowledge, diverse leadership, and quality improvement skills are critical in providing the above services (Marquis & Huston, 2020). Influencing quality of care at the lowest unit of society, the family, enhances a shared understanding between the patients and providers about what matters. Increased patient-centered care in the future means increasingly involving patients in decision-making and shared healthcare planning. Empowered nurses can be part of the healthcare revolution where patients are not told what they want but are involved in the conversation about what they think is best for them. This influences patient-reported outcomes, which can positively enhance patient education and capacity building towards healthcare goals achievement.
It is also worth noting that through comprehensive advocacy of patient’s needs, nurses can be at the forefront in helping patients make informed healthcare-related decisions. They can also help them navigate complex healthcare systems, translate onerous medical terms, and make ethical decisions. In addition, nurses provide information to patients about their treatment plans and alternatives available within their budget and health aspirations through these processes. Such holistic provision of care reduces health disparity by creating confidence in the healthcare system. Most importantly, the information given is important in reducing the gap. Lack of in-depth understanding of how the healthcare system works and how patients can access care without being discriminated against based on their social-economic status or race are factors that derail individuals from seeking healthcare intervention.
As big data in healthcare continue to revolutionize care provision strategies and deal with a myriad of challenges in this sector, nurses can be part of the research process. It is impossible to continue using traditional healthcare decision-making models while expecting a revolution. Given the level of healthcare education, nurses continue to be an indispensable tool that can be involved in the research process to ensure evidence-based decision-making. This is because of their ability to use technology to dispense care(Marquis & Huston, 2020). Nurses can be part of research teams that track key healthcare metrics at the individual and population level, especially among minority groups with undesirable health outcomes(Poghosyan et al., 2017). They are better equipped to undertake this role because they better understand the patient population, especially the most prevalent social determinants of health. Whether nurses directly or indirectly contribute to the analysis of data related to the psychosocial status, quality of life, clinical and health outcomes, they are instrumental in drawing attention to the areas that have not been focused on for a long time(Salmond et al., 2019). Involvement in big data analysis by nurses is also an opportunity for cross-team collaboration. Nurses can be part of quality departments collaborating with groups such as professional medical and nursing associations, healthcare philanthropic groups, and local hospitals. This helps revamp research efforts and draw information from the different groups to inform strategies better to reduce health disparities. Such data analysis undertakings are also crucial in driving innovation culture among nurses. The future of healthcare is highly independent on innovative practices that nurses can drive. Innovative techniques coupled with in-depth research are likely to ensure an innovative approach to the reduction of health disparities.
An indirect opposition to the contribution of nurses in the reduction of healthcare disparities is the endorsement of structural interventions as the primary means of reducing healthcare disparities. Brown et al. (2019) espouse that there is a need for evidence-based structural alternatives to reduce the prevalence of health disparities in different populations. In addition, there is a need for an in-depth understanding of the factors that increase health disparities at the community and individual levels. Disease agnostic interventions, increased engagement among different stakeholders, and ensuring the priorities are set right are instrumental structural strategies in reducing the disparities. For a desirable response, timing and location are also significant considerations. Although there are many challenges in implementing these suggestions, Brown et al.(2019), suggest future directions in which there is increased tackling and strategizing around the structural determinants of health and effective evaluation of the strategies put in place to ensure a solid understanding of outcomes.
In summary, nurses have a pivotal role to play in the reduction of health disparities. Through nurse leadership, empowerment is feasible. This influences advocacy for patient’s health. Nurses are also an instrumental part of care coordination. They are essential agents of change, especially in ensuring patient and family-centered healthcare. Today, through the creation of a rapport with patients, nurses can influence the dissemination of information to diverse patients, a factor that influences decision-making and desirable healthcare-related plans. Nurses can also be part of the sought change through participation in big data analysis and research undertakings. It is impossible to influence change unless there is an in-depth understanding of the determinants of health and the effectiveness of the instituted strategies. There are alternative views on other approaches that can be used to enhance desirable health outcomes. Some suggestions are increased engagement among different stakeholders, disease agnostic intervention, a better understanding of the factors that influence disparities, and measuring the programs’ performance to reduce the disparities.
References
Brown, A. F., Ma, G. X., Miranda, J., Eng, E., Castille, D., Brockie, T., ... & Trinh-Shevrin, C. (2019). Structural interventions to reduce and eliminate health disparities. American journal of public health , 109 (S1), S72-S78.
Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2020). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application . Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Poghosyan, L., & Carthon, J. M. B. (2017). The untapped potential of the nurse practitioner workforce in reducing health disparities. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice , 18 (2), 84-94.
Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic nursing , 36 (1), 12.
