Resource Center

The National Center was honored to be commissioned to submit a paper on "Social Determinants of Health: Nursing, Health Professions and Interprofessional Education at a Crossroads" to the National Academy of Medicine to accompany its recent report "The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity (2021)". Findings and recommendations from the commissioned paper can be found throughout the report.

Amy Barton, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF (University of Colorado), Barbara Brandt, PhD, EdM, FNAP (National Center), Carla Dieter, MS, EdD, RN (National Center), and Shanita Williams, PhD, MPH, APRN (Health Resources and Services Administration) co authored the commissioned paper. The paper begins with describing the business case and moral obligation for the social determinants of health and health equity as a call to action for nursing and health professions education. It then describes the current state of interprofessional education, activating and educating nurses as interprofessional team members, and describes features of teaching methods for social determinants of health to move the needle on health equity, and activities of aligning education to health care for the social determinants of health.

The paper builds on and features the National Center's experience supporting nurse-led community-academic collaborations through the Accelerating Interprofessional Community-Based Education and Practice initiative. Multi-sector models involving innovative interprofessional collaboration between community agencies such as emergency, legal system, housing, and public works and the health care system are showcased, leading to positive health ouctomes for communities and populations.

The commissioned paper can be accessed through the National Academy of Medicine's Future of Nursing website at the link below, under "Commissioned Papers" on the right hand side of the page.