#1
An action item that resonated with my role as a clinical nurse coordinator is the ability to enhance quantitative reasoning. It is important to show that “the most successful population health initiatives have demonstrated their effectiveness through distinctive quality improvement methods that combine thinking about assessment, outcomes, and costs in a real-world context.” (Gorski et al, 2020) Audits that are completed every week help find services that need better quality in consideration of the safety of the patients and community. Tactics that help improve outcomes are 1) using the data to make improvements and 2) connecting the data to the environment to serve that community better. My role helps me understand the services we need to improve to make sure that the community is being effectively cared for.
#2
Action item 1 from the document, “Start with Assessment”, focuses on identifying the health needs and risks of entire populations, looking into patterns and disparities (Gorski, et. al., 2020). As a Labor and Delivery nurse, assessment is central to my daily work, as I monitor maternal and fetal health, labor progress, and education. However, my focus is on the individual, not the population. To align more with population health, I can widen my outlook by noticing trends in my unit, like gestational diabetes and hypertension, and participating in quality improvement projects and support screening for social determinants of health.
Participating in quality improvement projects can help my unit in tracking maternal and fetal outcomes. By contributing to data collection and helping implement evidence-based practices, I can help address health disparities and improve care across the population we serve. Supporting screening for social determinants of health can help identify issues like domestic violence and housing instability. By contributing to this data collection, I can help address health disparities and improve care.
