Why health equity is significant to the National Academy of medicine report 2021

April is National Minority Health Month, a time to emphasize the health of racial and ethnic
minorities in the United States. By collectively working to reduce health disparities, we can
amplify existing year-round efforts to promote health equity.

Simply put, health equity means that everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible,
regardless of their circumstances. This is achieved with several steps, including:

 Improving diversity and minority representation in clinical trials

 Studying health disparities that disproportionately affect minorities
 Providing access to factual health information that is easy to understand, culturally competent, and
available in a variety of languages

After all, inclusion of all races and ethnicities in clinical trials and health conversations isn’t just
a social issue—it’s a medical issue.

CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) says it best: persistent health
disparities in our country are unacceptable and correctable.

Health influences happiness and overall well-being, so it’s only logical that everyone should get
the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

Health equity involves breaking down barriers—such as discrimination and lack of resources—

that lead to those inequalities; it means recognizing that some demographics require additional
resources and opportunities in order to reach their full health potential.

Define social determinant of health. Discuss one of the determinants and how this impacts health
equity.

The social determinants of health (SDH) are the non-medical factors that influence health
outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the
wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems
include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and
political systems.
In our conception, basic education is an integral part of being healthy. A
person is unhealthy if he or she lacks basic knowledge, the ability to
reason, emotional capacities of self-awareness and emotional regulation,
and skills of social interaction. These embodied personal attributes or
mental capacities, the products of formal education as well as other
learning experiences, are conceptually comparable to physical capacities
of fitness and coordination – well-established components of health.
“Education teaches a person to use his or her mind: Learning, thinking,
reasoning, solving problems, and so on are mental exercises that may
keep the central nervous system in shape the same way that physical
exercise keeps the body in shape.”8(p738) A person is unhealthy who
cannot conduct himself or herself effectively and achieve some level of
“social well-being” – a critical element of the World Health Organization
(WHO) conception of health, which recognized the contributions of social
sectors beyond the health sector in promoting health.9

The projects of several US and international health agencies reflect this

concept of education as a component of health. For example, the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes “cognitive health”
in its Healthy Aging Program; although the focus of this program is
prevention and control of Alzheimer’s disease, the “cognitive health”
rubric suggests far broader considerations: “The public health
community should embrace cognitive health as a priority, invest in its
promotion, and enhance our ability to move scientific discoveries rapidly
into public health practice.”15(p1) The National Institutes for Health
similarly has a “healthy brain” program that recognizes cognitive as well
as emotional capacities as elements of health.16

Describe the role nurses have in improving health equity and impacting social needs

Addressing social needs across the health system can improve health equity from the individual to the
system level. The report Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care identifies activities in
five complementary areas that can facilitate the integration of social care into health care: adjustment,
assistance, alignment, advocacy, and awareness (NASEM, 2019) (see Figure 5-1 and Table 5-1). In the
area of awareness, for example, clinical nurses in a hospital setting can identify the fall risks their
patients might face upon discharge and the assets they can incorporate into their lives to improve their
health. In the area of adjustment, telehealth and/or home health and home visiting nurses can alter
clinical care to reduce the risk of falls by, for example, helping patients to adjust risks in their homes and
learn to navigate their environment. And these activities can continue to the high level of system change
through advocacy for health policies aimed at altering community infrastructure to help prevent falls.

In short, improving population health entails challenging and changing the factors and institutions that
give rise to health inequity through interventions and reforms that influence the institutions, social
systems, and public policies that drive health (Lantz, 2019). It is important to note, however, that there
are shortcomings in how evaluations of health equity interventions are carried out.

Discus the significance of self-care to decrease nursing burn-out. What self-care and evidence based
strategies are available for nurses to maintain personal and spiritual health.

A lack of self-care for nurses increases the chances of burnout, and burnout has become an
even greater risk amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nurses are working longer hours, risking
their health by exposing themselves to patients infected with the virus and dealing with mass
suffering and fear.

With that said, it's important to understand what burnout is. The Mayo Clinic defines job
burnout as "a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced
accomplishment and loss of personal identity."
There are several practices offering self-care for nurses that can mitigate burnout. Mindfulness
meditation has become a popular tool for managing stress and fostering health. It entails
being "mindful" of your surroundings, feelings and thoughts.
You can practice mindfulness by sitting in a quiet, comfortable place and focusing on your
breathing, external surroundings and emotional energy. Just 10-20 minutes a day has been
proven to reduce stress, making it a great practice for nurses.

Deep breathing is an effective way to sneak in self-care during shifts.

The body's stress response helps us confront and avoid danger. But chronic stress is
detrimental. It can cause fatigue, digestive problems, premature aging and much more.
Breathing exercises counteract stress by slowing your body and heart rate and "disengaging
you from distracting thoughts and sensations."
Start by taking a deep breath through your nose. Hold it for a few seconds and then release the
breath through your mouth. Repeat these steps for a few minutes.

Deep breathing is a stress-relief tool that you can take anywhere. Try it during your next work
shift between patients or before you complete paperwork. You can also practice it during your
daily commute.