Healthy People 2030: Application to Nursing Practice

In 1979, Surgeon General Julius Richmond released a groundbreaking report on reducing preventable death and injury, titled “Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention”¹. The report included measurable objectives aimed at achieving national health promotion and disease prevention goals for the United States over a 10-year period¹. Each decade, the Healthy People initiative identifies public health priorities and releases new 10-year objectives with the goal of improving the health and well-being of individuals, organizations, and communities across the nation².

Healthy People 2030

The fifth and most recent initiative, Healthy People 2030, builds upon past initiatives to address the most significant public health issues affecting the nation¹. Healthy People 2030 includes 355 measurable objectives with overarching goals for the next 10 year period, including attaining healthy lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death; eliminating health disparities, achieving health equity, and attaining health literacy; creating social, physical, and economic environments that promote health and well-being; promoting healthy development, healthy behaviors, and well-being across all life stages; and engaging leadership and the public across multiple sectors to take action and design policies that improve the health and well-being of all¹. Past initiatives have been largely focused on individual health behaviors, and while the basic objectives for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity have been preserved from Healthy People 2020, the objectives of Healthy People 2030 have a new emphasis on health equity, social determinants of health, health literacy, and overall well-being, to ensure all populations can live healthier lives².

Application to Nursing Practice

Healthy People 2030 is a great tool for health care providers to improve both the quality of the care they provide and the health of their patients and community. It provides a framework with evidence-based practice guidelines for a wide variety of common healthcare concerns, from hypertension to affordability. With 89% of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) population prepared in primary care and more than 75% actively practicing in primary care, NPs are uniquely positioned to help promote and achieve the Healthy People 2030 objectives³.

Nurse Practitioners play an important role in disease prevention and health promotion across the lifespan. The nursing profession supports improved public health outcomes by providing services such as chronic disease management, tobacco cessation counseling, family planning, immunizations, routine screenings, community outreach, and emergency preparedness and response. One of the most critical roles that NPs have in health promotion and disease prevention, is that of an educator. Nurses spend a considerable amount of time with patients and are well-aligned to develop strong, trusting, long-term relationships. These relationships provide NPs with a better understanding of each patients’ unique risks and needs and enable them to provide individualized education on the importance of prevention and early detection of chronic diseases through lifestyle modifications, preventative screenings and immunizations, medication management and adherence, and routine follow-up care. Connecting with patients to understand their individual risks and needs and providing them with personalized tools and resources to reduce their risks can greatly improve overall health and well-being.

Furthermore, the settings in which NPs practice improve access to care for those who need it most. Many of the communities that NPs serve are plagued with high rates of chronic, preventable medical conditions as well as many health disparities. NPs care for diverse individuals, communities, and populations, particularly in rural and medically under-served areas, and thus play a critical role in expanding access to high-quality, equitable care for all. Addressing social determinants of health is of particular importance for the well-being of these communities and may require the NP to provide resources and advocacy for economic stability, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods and built environments, and social context⁴. NPs in the community setting are well-positioned to provide a wide range of services to at-risk populations, addressing the need for access to affordable health care, and the prevention and management of chronic diseases, which is the foundation of Healthy People 2030.

References/Resources

¹ Healthy People 2030 Framework

² American Heart Association praises Healthy People 2030 objectives

³ Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care

⁴ Social Determinants of Health

History of Healthy People: History of the Healthy People Initiative

Health Communication

Objectives and Data