HEALTH EQUITY ESSAY
Complete the following free Institute of Healthcare Improvement Open School learning module.
http://www.ihi.org/education/IHIOpenSchool/resources/Pages/AudioandVideo/David-Williams-Don-Berwick-What-Is-Health-Equity-and-Why-Does-It-Matter.aspx
What Is Health Equity, and Why Does It Matter?
In a 2-3 page essay describe the insights you have gained from this module and nursing leadership’s role in addressing this issue including proposed strategies as suggested in the assigned learning module.
The assignment should be written in essay format (references and citations are optional)

GRADING RURIC FOR HEALTH EQUITY ESSAY
Content Outstanding

25 points Satisfactory

20 points Fair

14 points Poor

8 points Unacceptable

4 points Missing Response
0 points
Elements completely addressed / information  clear and    appropriate

Most  elements   some information vague
Missing some essential  info Missing many essential elements

Response vague, & does not address   essential elements
No  information provided

Identify and describe insights from viewing the IHI Learning Modules on Health Equity
Use evidence from your course readings and resources to fully describe the theory and why you will find it useful.
Discuss Nursing Leadership’s role in facelifting health equity in nursing practice.
Identify strategies identified in the IHI Learning Modules to address this issue.
Articulate, professionally written without grammatical errors
Total Points in Column  Total Points

Health Equity Essay
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

Health Equity Essay
The profound health disparities observed among racial and ethnic groups in the United States are attributed to the fact that there is a lack of fair allocation of resources among these groups when compared with the whites. According to Evans (2020), the lack of health equity is the cause of geographical variations in mortality rates and health outcomes in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to explore the health equity concept as discussed in the module. It will also describe the role of Nursing Leadership in addressing inequities in health including the strategies that should be implemented to promote success.
Insights Gained
The Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) learning modules on health equity present insights that today’s nurses need to understand as they prepare to promote population health. An important insight that emerged from the IHI modules on health equity is that health inequalities are mostly witnessed among minority groups in the United States. These groups are exposed to unfair and unjust social situations that impact negatively on their health. In the video, Dr. Williams indicates that minority groups in the United States receive poor quality and less intensive care when compared with their white counterparts (Institute for Health Improvement, 2022). To promote health equity, the United States government should remove the unfair and unjust social situations that minority groups are currently facing.
Understanding the health equity concept is useful because there are perverse health disparities in the United States that need to be addressed.  Health disparities in the country are witnessed in the country in terms of place or geographical location, socio-economic status, income levels, educational standards, social status, occupational standards, as well as race and ethnicity. According to Dr. Williams, this is unacceptable in a country guided by the values that advocate for equal opportunities for all (Institute for Health Improvement, 2022). For example, the disparity in breast cancer observed between African American women and white women tells the degree of severity by which health disparities are affecting the health of minority groups in the country. Younger African women get more aggressive forms of breast cancer than the white women where breast cancer is believed to be a post-menopausal condition. Dr. Williams indicates that 265 black people die every day in the United States because of racial disparities (Institute for Health Improvement, 2022). These people would not die if there were no racial inequities in health. Therefore, addressing health inequities is one of the ways to improve health outcomes and keep mortality rates low.
The Role of Nursing Leadership
Nursing leadership plays a crucial role in facelifting health equity in nursing practice. For instance, nurse leaders are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that patients receive quality healthcare services irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. They can achieve this by training nurses to demonstrate cultural competence whenever they are handling patients (Azar, 2021). As Azar (2021) explains, nurse leaders can perform multiple roles to support the government to promote health equity for all. For example, they can serve as scientists, educators, advocates, and innovators as they work with other stakeholders to eliminate health inequities. As scientists, nurse leaders engage in research to investigate differences in health that might exist across populations with their associated factors. The data can be used by the government to identify areas or populations that need more health resources than others. As advocates, nurse leaders support the development and implementation of policies that are aimed at addressing health disparities. As innovators, they can invent innovative strategies to promote health equity (Azar, 2021). Most importantly, nurse leaders play a role in educating the government, their colleagues, other nurses, and the community about the importance of addressing health inequities.
Strategies to Promote Health Equity
Strategies to promote health equity should seek to eliminate avoidable differences among diverse groups in the United States by promoting the fair distribution of government resources. According to Gomez et al. (2021), interventions that help to promote health equity usually target social determinants of health. One of the strategies that have worked well is evidence base expansion. This can be achieved by engaging in research to collect data that can help create the true picture of the problem. This data is useful in decision-making during resource allocation (Moore et al., 2022). The other strategy is to use a workforce that mirrors the diversities in a particular community. This creates a skill mix that can easily work together to address any existing health inequities. Moore et al. (2022) emphasize the need to support and expand health programs to at-risk populations as another strategy to facelift health equity. Most importantly, public health and healthcare professionals should advocate for the implementation of policies that guide resource allocation.
Conclusion
Health disparities are directly associated with negative health outcomes and high mortality rates among minority groups in the United States. The IHI learning modules present useful insights about health equity and why it is important. The nurse leader plays multiple roles in addressing health disparities some of which support the implementation of interventions that promote social justice.

References
Azar K. (2021). The evolving role of nurse leadership in the fight for health equity. Nurse Leader, 19(6), 571–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2021.08.006
Evans, M. (2020). Health equity: Are we finally on the edge of a new frontier? The New England Journal of Medicine, 383(11), 997-999. https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2005944?articleTools=true
Gómez, C. A., Kleinman, D. V., Pronk, N., Wrenn Gordon, G. L., Ochiai, E., Blakey, C., Johnson, A., & Brewer, K. H. (2021). Addressing health equity and social determinants of health through Healthy People 2030. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice: JPHMP, 27(Suppl 6), S249–S257. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001297.
Institute for Health Improvement. (2022). What is health equity and why does it matter? https://www.ihi.org/education/IHIOpenSchool/resources/Pages/AudioandVideo/David-Williams-Don-Berwick-What-Is-Health-Equity-and-Why-Does-It-Matter.aspx
Moore, J. T., Luna-Pinto, C., Cox, H., Razi, S., St Louis, M. E., Ricaldi, J. N., & Liburd, L. (2022). Promoting health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic, United States. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 100(2), 171–173. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.21.286074