NR 503 Week 1 Discussion: Exercise and
Discussion Questions from Curley Text Book
Week 1: Discussion - Exercise and Discussion Questions from Curley Textbook
Exercise 2.6
APRNs should not only recognize but also make it part of their practice to develop strategies to
reduce or eliminate health disparities. Review information from Healthy People 2020 and the
CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities websites.
• What health disparities can you find that are relevant to your community?
• How can you better advocate for minority groups who have poorer health outcomes?
• What specific objectives in Healthy People 2020 can help this effort?
Professor and class,
Addressing and reducing community-wide health disparities is well within the practicing scope
of the advanced practiced nurse. Currently in my practice, I have seen a percentage of mothers,
specifically first-time mothers, refuse to attempt to breastfeed their child. Even with my
hospital’s baby-friendly designation, there has been only a slight increase in mother’s who have
exclusively breastfed while in the hospital. An objective of Healthy People 2020 is to increase
the proportion of infants who are ever breastfed (MICH-21.1) with a target goal of 81.9% of
infants born being breastfed. The question also stands, while these patient’s maintain exclusive
breastfeeding during their 2 to 3-day hospital stay after delivery, how does one maintain
compliance once the infant is discharged home? In an article by Odar Stough, Kalsa, Nabors,
Merianos and Peugh (2019), note that while the rates of breastfeeding initiation, in the hospital,
have reached the targets of Healthy People 2020, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding still
remain suboptimal per the Healthy People 2020 standard.
The focus placed on this topic by Healthy People 2020 is hopeful for change but as APNs we
must do something for our patient populations to bridge the gap and provide the missing
education that relates best to our patients. The patients that this deficit mainly affects are
predominantly of Hispanic or African American origin. There is also a conception, in low-income,
WIC recipient households, that there is greater financial aid with formula-fed infants versus
breastfed infants, which is simply not the case. The majority of these patients refuse to
breastfeed due to either a misconception and lack of education of “not having any milk” and/or
a lack of a desire to put forward the effort to try to teach their infant how to latch, having to
deal with cluster-feeding and waiting for their milk production to actually start. Education with
breastfeeding benefits starts at the prenatal visits. If a provider feels that their patient is at risk,
education should start immediately with prenatal care. The conversation needs to become
commonplace and frequent so that when the patient is at the Labor and Delivery unit and being
asked what the preferred feeding method is, the question does not come as a complete shock.
Tailoring the conversation and education to fit the needs of these at-risk minority groups will
only help the understanding of information. The APRN should provide key facts that appeal to
these minority groups, such as: breastfeeding is free, and does not cost money unlike formula;
This study source was downloaded by 100000829957125 from CourseHero.com on 01 -31-2022 09:00:13 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/48796429/Week-1docx/
Discussion Questions from Curley Text Book
Week 1: Discussion - Exercise and Discussion Questions from Curley Textbook
Exercise 2.6
APRNs should not only recognize but also make it part of their practice to develop strategies to
reduce or eliminate health disparities. Review information from Healthy People 2020 and the
CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities websites.
• What health disparities can you find that are relevant to your community?
• How can you better advocate for minority groups who have poorer health outcomes?
• What specific objectives in Healthy People 2020 can help this effort?
Professor and class,
Addressing and reducing community-wide health disparities is well within the practicing scope
of the advanced practiced nurse. Currently in my practice, I have seen a percentage of mothers,
specifically first-time mothers, refuse to attempt to breastfeed their child. Even with my
hospital’s baby-friendly designation, there has been only a slight increase in mother’s who have
exclusively breastfed while in the hospital. An objective of Healthy People 2020 is to increase
the proportion of infants who are ever breastfed (MICH-21.1) with a target goal of 81.9% of
infants born being breastfed. The question also stands, while these patient’s maintain exclusive
breastfeeding during their 2 to 3-day hospital stay after delivery, how does one maintain
compliance once the infant is discharged home? In an article by Odar Stough, Kalsa, Nabors,
Merianos and Peugh (2019), note that while the rates of breastfeeding initiation, in the hospital,
have reached the targets of Healthy People 2020, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding still
remain suboptimal per the Healthy People 2020 standard.
The focus placed on this topic by Healthy People 2020 is hopeful for change but as APNs we
must do something for our patient populations to bridge the gap and provide the missing
education that relates best to our patients. The patients that this deficit mainly affects are
predominantly of Hispanic or African American origin. There is also a conception, in low-income,
WIC recipient households, that there is greater financial aid with formula-fed infants versus
breastfed infants, which is simply not the case. The majority of these patients refuse to
breastfeed due to either a misconception and lack of education of “not having any milk” and/or
a lack of a desire to put forward the effort to try to teach their infant how to latch, having to
deal with cluster-feeding and waiting for their milk production to actually start. Education with
breastfeeding benefits starts at the prenatal visits. If a provider feels that their patient is at risk,
education should start immediately with prenatal care. The conversation needs to become
commonplace and frequent so that when the patient is at the Labor and Delivery unit and being
asked what the preferred feeding method is, the question does not come as a complete shock.
Tailoring the conversation and education to fit the needs of these at-risk minority groups will
only help the understanding of information. The APRN should provide key facts that appeal to
these minority groups, such as: breastfeeding is free, and does not cost money unlike formula;
This study source was downloaded by 100000829957125 from CourseHero.com on 01 -31-2022 09:00:13 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/48796429/Week-1docx/
