The healthcare reform has helped change the focus of the system from orientation on diseases to promoting wellness. Salmond and Echevarria (2017) state that this improvement was achieved through better coordination of care. Hence, different providers share access to information that allows them to mitigate the patient’s unnecessary visits to emergency departments and educate them on their condition. Moreover, the patient-centered approach implies the focus on the individual and on ensuring that the best health is achieved for an individual. Through promotion, healthcare organizations and providers can notify the citizens about potential health problems, encourage testing and prevention. The medical personnel can assist by helping create a health promotion plan and ensuring that patients can adjust their lifestyles to be healthier.
Healthcare will continue this trend because one of the consequences of promoting wellbeing is the prevention of diseases. This, in its turn, results in lower healthcare expenditure that both insurers and the state have to provide to support the population. In this context, the role of a nurse is to educate and guide the patients. For example, explain the basis of a healthy lifestyle and help individuals integrate healthy habits into their lives.
An example of a wellness initiative is the promotion of wellbeing among nursing students and advanced practice nurses. National Academies of Sciences et al. (2018) note that for nurses to be able to help patients maintain their health, they should ensure that their habits and lifestyles are healthy as well. This initiative is significant because nurses often work under stress and with excellent time constraints, while the responsibility is extraordinary. Hence, this wellness initiative promotes the wellbeing of people by teaching medical students and nurses the basis of wellness and self-management.
References
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Global Health, Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. (2018). A design thinking, systems approach to well-being within education and practice: proceedings of a workshop. National Academies Press.
Salmond, S., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopaedic Nursing, 36(1), 12-25. doi: 10.1097/nor.0000000000000308