The Role of Nurses in Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Social determinants of health (SDOH) play a fundamental role in defining the state of our overall being. They consist of the places in which we live, study, labor, and recreate, affecting various health and quality-of-life outcomes. Our health is significantly shaped by factors such as housing, education, the employment opportunities available to us, and the food we eat.

However, the significance of nurses in addressing these social determinants has gained recognition over time. Nurses have a crucial role in preventing diseases and promoting health by recognizing and treating other factors. They are uniquely positioned to observe and address non-medical elements that affect patient health. This makes them essential for ensuring fairness in health and improving community wellbeing.

Navigating social determinants in nursing practice

Social determinants of health, known as SDOH, are the factors in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. Some of these determinants include economic stability, which incorporates income as well as employment status, and education, which affects job prospects and a tendency towards health literacy. Social and community context is also significant, including aspects such as support systems and social inclusion, and access to healthcare, addressing quality due to some people preferring to use other means rather than those offered through formal channels. These factors influence health inequalities, leading to the differences observed regarding the status of public health within and across nations.

One of the vital elements in dealing with SDOH is focusing on improving health and minimizing inequalities, which can be achieved by actions implemented inside and outside clinical public health systems. We can address these social, economic, and environmental determinants for better population health outcomes and more significant equity.

The changing role of nurses in health promotion and disease prevention

Nurses hold an extraordinary position in health promotion and disease prevention. Being in close contact with the people who need exceptional help, nurses can educate them about healthy habits like good nutrition and the importance of immunization. They also issue directions on how to keep chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart conditions under control. This education can happen at any level of prevention that ranges from teaching ordinary people how to choose their lifestyle to helping the cured person.

Matching nursing practices with health promotion models such as the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) poses obstacles and opportunities. The RHIhub highlights the relevant models and theories that can be used to explain and understand health behavior.

Nonetheless, there are also opportunities. Nurses can influence behaviors and create support for policies and environments using their educational role and proximity to patients. They play a pivotal role in redirecting from disease treatment to promotion of health, wellness, and comfort. If adopted, these guidelines can contribute significantly to promoting good health in society and building a healthier nation.

Participatory approaches in nursing

Participatory strategies in nursing imply teamwork between stakeholders — healthcare professionals, particularly nurses who work with patients and their families. This model focuses on patient-oriented care, whereby all clinical decisions are based on patients’ preferences, values, and needs. Nurses collaborate with each patient to help them understand that their conditions have unique implications for their case and develop a treatment plan. This approach involves direct patient care and extends to working with families and communities to identify and meet their health needs.

Implementing participatory healthcare can improve health outcomes by encouraging active involvement from all parties in disease prevention and management. For nurses, this means engaging in interdisciplinary teams and sharing knowledge and skills to achieve common health goals. These teams can effectively address patient needs by fostering open communication and respecting each other’s contributions. Success in this approach can be measured through collaborative goal setting, effective management of patient pain, and inclusion of diverse healthcare providers based on their expertise.

Thus, participatory approaches in nursing empower patients by actively involving them in their care process and respecting their preferences and needs. This collaborative model leads to more effective health outcomes and enhances the overall healthcare experience​​.

Integrating SDOH in nursing education and practice

Integrating the social determinants of health (SDOH) in nursing education is essential, and programs like the Accelerated BSN Online (ABSN) offered at Wilkes University do just this. It is necessary because it integrates the development of well-versed nursing staff in tackling health disparities. The ABSN all-around education program provides more than just fundamental nursing understanding – it also focuses on an evidential approach to care, teamwork in healthcare settings, and knowledge of cultural and economic aspects of patient treatment.

By embracing such a holistic approach in training nurses, with SDOH as part and parcel of it, it leads to empowering the future nursing workforce. These nurses understand well how to offer care that meets the needs of various communities, thus increasing their capacity or ability to deal with health disparities and work towards attaining equity in health outcomes.

Community-based participatory research in nursing

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a nursing process that underlines collaboration between nurses and community subjects in identifying health problems/dialogue. This model engages the local community at every research step, incorporating their demands and opinions as fundamental to creating health initiatives. CBPR is very pertinent to the nursing field as it goes hand in hand with one focus area in this profession: holistic care and health advocacy.

Nurses who apply CBPR are practically involved in communities to learn about the challenges of a particular health group. This partnership helps in the development of culturally sensitive health interventions, which are likely to have successful results. For example, engaging a specific local community allows nurses to learn that community’s unique needs and views. As such learning is gained, several targeted health education campaigns or screening projects become more available for the population.

In addition, CBPR enables nurses to practice across different states of health intervention. They can come up with personal health risks and projects that the community could carry out and, in some circumstances, even see changes in policies arising from their findings. All this also makes such a multifaceted approach influential in eliminating health disparities as it is based on the diversity of factors affecting people’s health, including social determinants.

CBPR has several features that make it useful for nurse practitioners and other health partners, since this approach allows for establishing connections between the nursing professional body and the communities they serve and applying them to develop solutions based on community experience. This makes the adoption adequate and relevant to health interventions while empowering communities ​​to manage their health outcomes.

Case examples of participatory nursing practices

The nursing profession has used participatory methods in different contexts as an avenue for improving the goals of health promotion and disease prevention. In addition to CBPR, such approaches include nursing cooperation with the patients, families, and other medical workers — these lead to better results or care that is more patient-oriented.

One good example of where participatory nursing practice has been very successful is the collaborative efforts between the nurses and physicians in intensive care units. Research has shown that successful collaboration and communication in such an environment could also result in better patient outcomes, which are lower morbidity and mortality rates and a shorter length of hospital stay. This partnership is based on respect and a common purpose — it provides conditions for nurses and physicians to implement a professional patient care toolkit.

Another notable example includes the involvement of nurses in making critical decisions for patient care and their families. The QSEN (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses) project has outlined a model for student nurses of what they should expect in the care environment. It focuses on six competencies that help establish a patient-centered approach and respect for preferences, values, and needs. Nurses establish a close relationship with the patients to identify their strengths and profound knowledge, which helps develop care plans that best suit their needs. Such an approach improves the quality of care, patient satisfaction, and health outcomes.

Challenges and solutions in implementing participatory nursing practices

Several obstacles hinder nurses in adopting participatory strategies. These challenges include complexities in harmonizing patient and community perspectives on best practices of nursing as well as organizational and cultural barriers associated with healthcare systems. Moreover, issues may arise in balancing stakeholders’ needs and priorities, such as patients, families, or colleagues.

In addition, attainable support and training need to be put in place to overcome these challenges when it comes to applying participatory methods among nurses. It involves acquiring skills in communication, teamwork, and cultural literacy. The other way to ensure participatory approaches are established is through role definition and transparent responsibilities in interdisciplinary teams.

Additionally, promoting an organizational culture that appreciates and encourages patient-centered care and community involvement is vital. This can be done with the help of supportive leadership, required resources, and policies that would promote participative practices. Further iterations of these approaches can be made effective through a commitment to ongoing learning and the ability to respond specifically to feedback from the community and patient partners.

The future of nursing in health promotion

The future of nursing in health promotion and disease prevention is changing to focus more on social determinants of health and patient care that reflect a holistic view. It has been observed that more and more nurses have become central figures in advancing healthcare and preventing diseases in hospital settings and community-based settings.

One major trend to note is the broadening role of nurses in primary healthcare, targeting the prevention and management of chronic diseases. A greater focus is now being placed on nurses’ ability to establish and conduct some community interventions that correspond with the cultural particulars of these actions, targeted at solving specific problems among various population groups.

Adaptation and continuous learning provide essential elements for nurses in the ever-changing environment. Nurses should remain updated with recent studies and current health promotion and disease prevention recommendations. This involves learning new technologies and evidence-based approaches and acquiring skills such as patient teaching, communication with the client’s family members, and creating restrictive health measures.

As nursing practices continue to align with these developments, this profession is ideally suited for playing one of the leading roles and shaping a healthier future that actively emphasizes preventable care and community health initiatives​​.

Conclusion

Nurses are critical in combating health’s social determinants to realize a better outcome. They are better placed than many others to appreciate and respond effectively to the medical and various other elements that work outside institutionalized medicine, contributing to or hampering individual wellbeing. Nurses can play instrumental roles in fostering societal wellbeing when using an integrative approach that combines health’s social, economic, and environmental determinants to eliminate disparity. Lifelong learning and response to new challenges in health promotion are the future of nursing, guaranteeing that nurses will continue playing a leading role in delivering holistic care.