Nurses’ Access to Communities
The nurses’ primary professional role is improving health and wellbeing for their patients (Butler & Diaz, 2017). The nursing professionals also ensure the improvement of community health outcomes by addressing population health problems. As the healthcare system undergoes reforms, the nursing roles also expand. As a result, nurses are expected to advocate and reach out to community members who are underserved or lack access to healthcare reform (Butler & Diaz, 2017). Advocacy is one way by which nurses reach out to community members or entire communities that lack access to healthcare reforms. The nurses are trained to represent individual patients and communities to improve their health and outcomes. The purpose of advocacy in nursing is to promote access to care and reduce health disparities (Butler & Diaz, 2017). As such, the nurses may advocate for the communities through legislation changes to ensure that the members access the specific reforms.
Another way that the nurses use to reach the community members is by volunteering in the communities to provide education and create awareness about specific healthcare reforms (Butler & Diaz, 2017). Volunteering has become popular among nurses as they focus on improving population health outcomes by educating communities about various healthcare reforms and how to access them. The nurses serve a crucial role in the communities to improve access to care, as well as health literacy. Also, the nurses ensure care coordination for the community members to ensure access to the right services and providers. Healthcare reforms have created the need for nursing care coordinators to support and guide community members through the care delivery system. Finally, nurses collaborate with community services to reach population groups that may not access healthcare reforms in the community. The collaborative strategies enhance healthcare access for community members.
References
Butler, S., & Diaz, C. (2017). Nurses as intermediaries in the promotion of community health: Exploring their roles and challenges. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/es_20170921_nurses_as_intermediaries.pdf