Removing the roadblocks to promoting health equity: finding the social determinants of health addressed in standardized nursing classifications

Abstract

Providing 80% of healthcare worldwide, nurses focus on physiologic and psychosocial aspects of health, which incorporate social determinants of health (SDOH). Recognizing their important role in SDOH, nurse informatics scholars included standardized measurable terms that identify and treat issues with SDOH in their classification systems, which have been readily available for over 5 decades. In this Perspective, we assert these currently underutilized nursing classifications would add value to health outcomes and healthcare, and to the goal of decreasing disparities. To illustrate this, we mapped 3 rigorously developed and linked classifications: NANDA International (NANDA-I), Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) called NNN (NANDA-I, NIC, NOC), to 5 Healthy People 2030 SDOH domains/objectives, revealing the comprehensiveness, usefulness, and value of these classifications. We found that all domains/objectives were addressed and NNN terms often mapped to multiple domains/objectives. Since SDOH, corresponding interventions and measurable outcomes are easily found in standardized nursing classifications (SNCs), more incorporation of SNCs into electronic health records should be occurring, and projects addressing SDOHs should integrate SNCs like NNN into their ongoing work.