Preparing the nurses of the future to address health disparities

Nurses need competence and confidence to assess for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and meaningfully mitigate the barriers they present to health. While acute care nurses are in an ideal position to address SDOH and optimize the continuum of care, evidence suggests they lack the necessary knowledge and confidence to address SDOH in acute care. The purpose of this project was to describe the frequency of SDOH topics encountered by undergraduate nursing students during clinical learning in acute care and whether those topics were addressed by the student independently or in collaboration with another healthcare professional. Student nurses (n = 148) documented patient encounters over 2 semesters. An average of 7.53 SDOH topics per patient was identified. Access to primary health care, social support networks, and nutritious foods were the most frequent SDOH topics. The least frequently encountered SDOH topics were immigration status, proximity to crime and violence, and climate change. Nursing students encountered many SDOH topics during clinical education although they were rarely prepared to address them independently. The results of this project reinforce the pressing need to develop nursing competency with SDOH and can inform design for curricular integration of SDOH.