Nurses can advance health equity in Washington state
Health Care Authority (HCA) has partnered with the Washington Center for Nursing (WCN) to create the following health equity video for nurse leaders across our state.
Health equity video for nurse leaders, created by Washington Centers for Nursing and Health Care Authority.
To HCA, health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care. Health equity is a core value of HCA.
This is based on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s definition of health equity.
What’s the video about?
Nurses and nurse practitioners play an instrumental role in providing quality care for patients. Nearly half of Washington’s Apple Health (Medicaid) patients get their care from nurse practitioners. Nurses and nurse practitioners have the power to influence health equity by recognizing their own bias and acknowledging that all patients have different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and beliefs. This video encourages and shows pathways for that work.
“Everyone has a role in health equity. It’s important to have someone there to advocate for you. That’s what nursing should be. And that should be regardless of what you look like. That’s our job, that’s in our code of ethics.”
- Valorie Taylor, MSN, RN, MultiCare Behavioral Health Network
Watch the Health Equity in Nursing video to learn what HCA, WCN, and these inspiring nurse leaders are doing to advance health equity across Washington.
- Valorie Taylor, MultiCare Behavioral Health Network
- Sandra Riojas, Central Washington Family Medicine
- Megan Wilbert, International Community Health Services
- Jerome Mendóza Dayao, Harborview Hospital
- Kristen Swanson, Seattle University College of Nursing
Health equity work at Health Care Authority
Our vision is that HCA employees embody a culture in which we openly recognize health inequities and are empowered to work together, and with the people we serve, to reduce inequities through fair and equitable distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
Visit hca.wa.gov/health-equity and WCNursing.org to learn more.