The Role of Advanced Nursing Practice in Building a Culture of Health and Advancing

Population Health Outcomes

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 Culture of Health

Culture of health entails working as a team to improve the health and wellbeing of the

general populace, leaving nobody behind (Safeer, & Allen, 2019). It is the culture in which,

quality health flourishes across borders, social areas, and all types of populations. A major aspect

of a culture of health is health equity, which essentially translates to every person having a fair

chance to access the basics of quality health no matter the geographical location, age, race, or

social status. Building a culture of health can be achieved by focusing on all areas of the health

care system, this paper focuses on the role of advanced nursing practice in achieving this goal.

The Role of Advanced Nursing Practice in Building a Culture of Health and Advancing

Population Health Outcomes

Advanced Nursing practices play a significant role in the development and advancement

of population health initiatives. ANP serves as the primary contact with patients, their family,

friends, and the community (Poghosyan, & Carthon, 2017). Through primary contact, they can

identify challenges affecting the people, act as a link to connect the population with health

resources and develop interventions that are tailor-made for specific situations and populations.

Advanced Nursing practices, through their interaction with the communities, can build a culture

of health through can be done through community health education initiatives, to educate and

empower the patients on how to live better and manage their conditions, especially for chronic

illnesses. Increasing access to health by organizing and providing outreach medical services to

those with no access to proper medical facilities, addresses the aspect of access to care. Put in

place administrative policies that advocate for fair treatment of all patients regardless of their

culture, background, or social status.

Strategies to Facilitate the Leadership and Management of Population Health Initiatives

Population health initiatives strategies enable healthcare organizations to attain positive

outcomes by guiding transformation in the health care sector. The use of data to categorize

populations into workable segments based on similar risk factors affecting the particular segment

provides a clear picture of the population’s health status. A data-based strategy helps an

organization understand the scope of population health, identify the risks and formulate

interventions that efficiently improve the health and wellbeing of the community. Data to be

collected would be clinical, social, economic, physical, and environmental data.

Strategy in Action.

The Steps Program and the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley used data to identify obesity

and overweight problem among school-going children, then using this data, developed a school

lunch walking campaign in six schools within the community. The program advocated for

increased physical activity among the children and the consumption of healthier meals. Notably,

the program’s effeteness was noted as 81% of the students who would not pass a fitness test in

the Fall, did so in the Spring of the same year. (CDC, 2008). This is one data-based population-

health initiative that managed to achieve a positive population outcome. The same can be applied

in all other population initiatives for a positive outcome by building a culture of health.
 References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2008). The Steps Program in Action:

Success Stories on Community Initiatives to Prevent Chronic Diseases. Atlanta: U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyCommunitiesProgram

Safeer, R., & Allen, J. (2019). Defining a culture of health in the workplace. Journal of

occupational and environmental medicine, 61(11), 863-867.

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.