University Name - Health Determinants and Patient Care Report

This report analyzes the social determinants of health through the lens of a nursing student's experience. The student reflects on a situation involving a patient with a language barrier, highlighting the impact of this disparity on patient education and care. The report discusses the importance of recognizing and addressing social determinants to improve patient outcomes. It also details the actions that could have been taken to better assist the patient and the changes the student will implement in future clinical practice to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care. The author emphasizes the significance of assessing, evaluating, and monitoring patient health outcomes to validate the effectiveness of social health interventions, and highlights the role of nurses in addressing these issues to provide comprehensive patient care. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing social determinants of health to improve overall well-being.

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Introduction
According to Healthy People 2020 (2014), social determinants of health implies factors
prevalent within an individual’s environment, either in their homes, workplace, clinical setting or
across public spaces, which in turn, impact his or her health and sense of long term wellbeing.
The following sections will briefly discuss upon a relevant social health determinant with respect
to a real life patient scenario.
Discussion
Health Disparity
One incident which I find relevant to this issue was during my experience as a nursing
student when I was required to educate a diabetic patient on the diet he will be provided after a
bypass surgery. To my surprise, as I begun to proceed, I found that the patient could hardly speak
English. Thankfully, my nursing supervisor handled the situation promptly by simultaneously
contacting the nutritionist as well as the healthcare organization’s Spanish interpreter services.
Indeed, language has been evidenced to be an essential social health determinant since non-
English speaking minority groups are likely to find it difficult to access English healthcare
services which in turn, can increase their risk of inadequate disease reporting and management
(Berge et al., 2018).
Future Encounter
Healthcare professionals like nurses are obliged to not just implement evidence based
clinical interventions but also assess the patient in terms of any social health issues which may
impact recovery and long term health (Berge et al., 2018). Thus, I believe the above mishap
could have been prevented and I could been well prepared had I first, asked regarding any

2SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
disparities the patient was encountering. However, to improve future clinical practice, not only
will I disseminate health education in a culturally and linguistically manner, I will also
continuously assess, evaluate and monitor patient health outcomes and disseminate interventions
accordingly.
Conclusion
Thus, addressing social determinants of health immediately and comprehensively
improves wellbeing for individuals. To conclude, healthcare professionals like nurses must not
only assess but also adequately monitory, evaluate and disseminate to validate the efficiency of a
social health intervention.

3SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
References
Berge, J. M., Fertig, A., Tate, A., Trofholz, A., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2018). Who is meeting
the Healthy People 2020 objectives?: Comparisons between racially/ethnically diverse
and immigrant children and adults. Families, Systems, & Health, 36(4), 451.
Healthy People 2020. (2014). Social Determinants of Health | Healthy People 2020. Retrieved 6
February 2020, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-
determinants-of-health.