Provision 8
Nurses build collaborative relationships and networks with nurses, other healthcare and non-healthcare disciplines, and the public to achieve greater ends.
8.2 Collaboration to Uphold Human Rights, Mitigate Health Disparities, and Achieve Health Equity
The nursing profession holds that physical and mental health are universal human rights. Thus, the need for nursing is universal. Where there are human rights violations, nurses ought to and must stand up for those rights and demand accountability. To transform unjust structures and directly address social and structural determinants of health, nurses must partner directly with communities of interest to advocate for community-based organizations, promote innovative models of care, and advance legislative proposals for safe and sustainable communities for all people.
The nurse collaborates to ensure care delivery that is person-centered, holistic, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive. With the healthcare team, nurses identify and work to procure resources that support individual, family, and community health. Nurses educate and work with others to prevent, treat, and control prevailing health problems and identify emerging health threats. For example, issues of human trafficking and environmentally sustainable healthcare cannot be addressed by nursing alone. Nurses, with the healthcare team, advocate for equitable access to immunizations and reproductive healthcare, effective injury prevention, public education concerning health promotion and maintenance, and prevention and control of locally endemic diseases and vectors. Advances in technology, genetics, and environmental science require a robust response from nurses, in concert with others. Teams need to develop creative solutions and innovative approaches that are ethical, equitable, and respectful of human rights. Additionally, researchers from every discipline ought to ask the difficult questions, and collectively and honestly expose inequities in health outcomes.