A Population Health Approach to Health Disparities for Nurses: Care of Vulnerable Populations

Awarded second place in the 2023 AJN Book of the Year Awards in Public and Population Health.

Offers vivid narratives illuminating the challenges and opportunities health professionals and policymakers face

Distinguished by abundant patient and health provider narratives highlighting the impact of health disparities on health outcomes worldwide, this scholarly yet practical text prepares RN-BSN, DNP, and PhD students to work toward improving community health for a variety of underserved and vulnerable populations. Grounded in the population health approach addressed in AACN Essentials, the text delivers practical steps nurses can take to address population health goals, including the improvement of quality of care, access to healthcare, improved outcomes, and cost management. The resource is also unique in its reflection of the interconnected points of view of the patient, the provider, and the health system.

Written by lawyers, physicians, social workers, statisticians and economists, psychologists, ethicists, finance experts, population health specialists, anthropologists, and nurses, the text emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to learning and all components of health care--delivery of care, policy, research, and teaching. It examines demographic differences, chronic and acute health conditions, and the health needs of the unserved/underserved across the life cycle. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the social determinants of health and discusses ways to address health disparities through changes in public policy, attitudes, beliefs, education, research, and advocacy. Objectives, key terms, discussion questions, and exercises facilitate group discussion about best practices.

Key Features:

• Delivers practical knowledge with detailed narratives and case studies of specific populations from experienced interprofessional authors
• Highlights the interwoven perspectives of patients, health providers, and health systems to promote cultural competence
• Pinpoints health disparities including a discussion of COVID-19
• Presents selected historical landmarks and cases that influence population health outcomes among vulnerable groups
• Interdisciplinary approach includes the perspectives of other health and social science disciplines

Dr. Marilyn J. Lotas, PhD, RN, FAAN, received her BSN and MEd in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University and her MSN in Psychiatric Nursing and PhD in Nursing with concentrations in Family Functioning and Child Development from the University of Michigan. She completed two years of post-doctoral education at the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Nurse Scholar focusing on environmental factors influencing the development of preterm infants. At the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, she served as Professor, Assistant Dean and Department Chair of Target Populations. She established a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program which was implemented in Houston and in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley, an economically depressed, medically underserved area. At Emory University she served as Professor, the Alberta Dozier Williamson Chair in Nursing and the Director of the Office of Research Administration. While there she took leadership in successfully getting approval and funding for a PhD program. From 2000-2020 she served on the faculty of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing as an Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Nursing, and Program Director of the BSN. Within the BSN program, she established a Semester Abroad program encompassing sites on six continents and including two-way exchanges with universities in Hong Kong, Wuhan China, and the American Virgin Islands. She re-designed the community health content in the curriculum with courses beginning in the Freshman year and culminating in the Senior year with coursework on Global Health and a 300 hour capstone practicum including sites in Cleveland, other areas of the US and internationally through the Semester Abroad Program. She established a 17 year partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District School Nurses directing projects related to childhood obesity, childhood hypertension and established a lead screening program to address the high rates of lead poisoning in Cleveland's children. From 2011-2012 she held a Senior Fulbright Fellowship at the Lebanese American University working with a newly established School of Nursing. She has consulted widely in the Middle East. She serves on the Editorial Board of Neonatal Network and reviews for multiple journals.