short reply to this discussion post

What are three specific actions that health professionals can take regardless of their practice area and site to promote population and community health policies? Provide a specific example of how the rapid advances in technology and health system reform affect population health. How will you specifically update your knowledge and skills to respond to these changes?

Population and community health encompasses a wide range of topics. Some examples of popular topics includes age-related healthcare, tobacco and substance abuse, mental and behavioral health, and infectious diseases (“Top 10 Most Common Health Issues”, 2020). Health professionals can take specific actions, regardless of their area of focus, to promote population and community health policies. Those actions include: Identifying factors affecting health, such as geography, education, employment, local industries, transportation, and housing; Gaining access to health-related resources through programs, local community health centers, and social services programs; and improving health outcomes by identifying potential legislative opportunities, seeking financial opportunities, and involving community leaders in support of such programs (Guzys et al., 2017).

Rapid advances in technology and health system reform affect population health. Nursing workforce projections for the next decade forecast an unprecedented need for nurses to expand their roles in primary care (Institute of Medicine-IOM, 2010). The need for BSN-prepared nurses to care for rural and underserved persons in interprofessional, integrated primary care teams is well known (American Nurses Association, 2018, Japsen, 2015). National data documents increases in persons with chronic diseases and complex health care needs in community settings with limited access to care (Bodenheimer et al., 2017). Access to care is especially critical for the over 43 million persons with a mental health diagnosis in the United States—of whom more than half receive no care whatsoever (Mental Health America, 2018). In the past year, over 20 million adults in the United States had a substance use disorder and 7.9 million had both a mental health and a co-occurring substance use disorder (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-SAMHSA, 2014).

One factor on the horizon on public health is that of transgender identity. There are significant disparities in this subpopulation that need to be addressed in future community healthcare initiatives. Those disparities include greater behavioral and socioeconomic differences, more exposure to infectious diseases like HIV, generalized poor health (Lagos et al., 2018).

I will continue to update my skills and knowledge in the area of community and public health by submitting to a journal geared towards the topic of public health; following current public health legislation on the local, state, and national levels; and continuing to work in the public and community health capacity in which I currently serve.

Resources

American Nurses Association. (2018). What is nursing? Retrieved from: https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/what-is-nursing/ (Links to an external site.)

Bodenheimer, T., & Mason, D. (2017). Registered nurses: Partners in transforming primary care. Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation New York, NY: Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation; (2017). Retrieved from: http://macyfoundation.org/docs/macy_pubs/Macy_Monograph_Nurses_2016_webPDF.pdf (Links to an external site.)

Guzys, D., Brown, R., Halcomb, E., & Whitehead, D. (2017). An introduction to community and primary health care. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health Retrieved from: http://iom.nationalacademies.org/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx (Links to an external site.).

Japsen, B. (2015). Nurse jobs shift from the hospital to the community. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2015/12/24/more-nurse-jobs-shift-from-the-hospital-to-the-community/#2715e48 57a0b3eeb02302d6a (Links to an external site.)

Lagos, D. (2018). Looking at population health beyond “Male” and “Female”: Implications of transgender identity and gender nonconformity for population health. Demography, 55(6), 2097-2117. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uta.edu/10.1007/s13524-0…

Mental Health America, (2018). The state of mental health in America. Retrieved from: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america (Links to an external site.)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-SAMHSA. (2014). National survey on drug use and health. Retrieved from: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/data-we-collect/nsduh-national-survey-drug-use-and-health (Links to an external site.)

Top 10 Most Common Health Issues. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/senior-health/commo…

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