The Healthy People 2030 campaign categorizes social determinants of health (SDOH) into five domains and each one has an impact on health outcomes and informs best practices in the delivery of healthcare (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). This course provides practice scenarios for use of a rapid assessment tool for screening patients for social determinants that impact their health.

Economic stability is defined as a domain of social determinants of health in the Healthy People 2030 campaign. It relates to an individual’s ability to access resources such as food, adequate housing, and healthcare. Each component of economic stability, including poverty, employment, food security, and housing stability, is linked to individual health outcomes.

Education access and quality is a pillar of the social determinants of health for Healthy People 2030 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). This course outlines the effects of education on an individual’s health. The four components of education access and quality include early childhood education and development, high school graduation, enrollment in higher education, and language and literacy.

All healthcare professionals must be aware of bias and the challenges that bias can create in healthcare. This includes knowing some of the challenges people face with the healthcare system. In this course, you will learn best practices to help recognize and manage bias.

Cultural competence in healthcare refers to the delivery of quality care. It refers to meeting the needs of people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence must be a two-way system to benefit people with differing beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors. This course discusses cultural competence and how organizations can use cultural competency to create an atmosphere of inclusion.

The goal of this course is to provide nurses and prescribing providers (physicians) in all healthcare settings with best practices to improve their care team approach to patients with depression and anxiety.

Nearly 10% of U.S. population does not have health insurance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], n.d.a). Healthy People 2030 is a national population and public health initiative endorsed by top U.S. government health agencies, setting health goals for the U.S. healthcare system to improve the overall wellbeing of patients in their communities. This course provides an in-depth and interactive analysis of one of the five Healthy People 2030’s domains of social determinants of health (SDOH), healthcare access and quality, and its impact on patient outcomes. 

Culture affects how individuals talk about and recognize their mental health symptoms. It also affects how providers conceptualize and work with individuals with diverse backgrounds. It is important to recognize how culture influences the ways individuals and providers approach mental health. Healthcare providers should be encouraged to use interventions and strategies that assist in delivering culturally competent care.

This course will examine the reasons for healthcare disparities among culturally diverse individuals, how both the cultural backgrounds of patients and their providers can impact patients’ mental health outcomes, and what kinds of actions providers can take to provide more effective care to patients of diverse cultures.

This course provides an overview about the safety of patients undergoing a trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) to attempt a vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC). Research evidence has influenced where VBACs are performed, which women are eligible and how the practice is conducted, including the safe use of induction/augmentation medications. The safety of VBAC for mother and newborn always remains the primary underlying principle that guides care.

A case of obstetrical hemorrhage due to uterine atony, requiring medical and surgical interventions and blood component replacement therapy is presented. Emphasis: A review of obstetrical hemorrhage, etiologies, and treatments is provided. The importance of early recognition and response to excessive blood loss is stressed. Medical and surgical interventions for uterine atony are reviewed. Current recommendations for blood component replacement therapy for massive hemorrhage are discussed.

Intrapartum fetal heart rate monitoring is an integral part of modern day obstetrics and when properly interpreted, may provide valuable insight into the fetal metabolic state. During labor, the physiologic stress posed by regular uterine contractions and maternal expulsive efforts may adversely impact the fetal acid-base status, leading to changes in the fetal heart rate pattern.

This module aims to review and apply essential FHR content in several clinical scenarios to highlight an important Clinical Pearl: Management of the laboring patient requires that the FHR pattern trends are interpreted in context with the clinical scenario and progress of labor.

Two cases are presented. Risk factors, including recurring and nonrecurring, for obstetrical hemorrhage, are reviewed. Delivery preparations and preventative strategies are discussed. Methodologies that better quantify blood loss, allowing for earlier recognition of excessive blood loss, are presented. Management of the patient experiencing obstetric hemorrhage, including a review of current guidelines for blood component replacement therapy, are reviewed.

This content is intended for all members of the obstetric team and is based on the educational theory that team performance is enhanced when all members of the team have the same understanding of the task and procedure to be performed.

Three different obstetrical scenarios, complicated by a Category II Fetal Heart Rate pattern, are presented to illustrate the importance of clinical context when formulating management plans. Emphasis, characteristics, and potential etiologies of Category II fetal heart rate tracings are reviewed. Management of the patient with a Category II fetal heart rate pattern is discussed, with special emphasis on the importance of the clinical context and fetal heart rate pattern evolution.

Substance use is a growing problem across populations. As a helping professional, you need a basic understanding of how substance use affects your clients. This information will help you to provide support and resources to help clients seek treatment and recovery. In this course, you will explore substance use disorders, how they develop, and their impact on individuals. The course also explains your role as a paraprofessional when working with individuals with substance use disorders. You will be provided an overview of evidence-based interventions and the types of substance use treatment programs available, when additional treatment may be necessary. Detailed examples will help you to apply this information in your own work. The goal of this course is to provide paraprofessionals and peer support specialists in health and human service settings with information on substance use disorders and evidence-based interventions.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex condition that may have short- or long-term effects on a patient. TBIs have a wide array of associated symptoms and disabilities. These may have a significant impact on the lives of patients and their families. Healthcare professionals should be ready to rapidly assess patients with TBIs so that they can be treated promptly.

This course provides strategies to enhance the knowledge and skills of physicians, registered nurses, and physician assistants in recognizing, assessing, and managing traumatic brain injuries, contributing to improved patient outcomes and interdisciplinary collaboration.

As a healthcare professional transporting patients to the ED, you may serve patients with symptoms indicative of behavioral health disorders, such as depressive, bipolar, and anxiety disorders. In some situations, the ED provider must administer psychiatric medications. However, if possible, it is prudent to defer their use until the patient is admitted to an inpatient mental health facility or seen as an outpatient. In many instances, the reason for presentation in the ED is an adverse reaction to psychiatric medications.

The physical environment in which individuals live has a direct impact on their health and wellness and their ability to access healthcare. Healthy People 2030 identifies neighborhoods and the built environment as a domain of the social determinants of health tied to health outcomes. This course provides an in-depth analysis of this domain and how it affects the health and well-being of patient populations. The four components of neighborhood and built environment include access to healthy foods, quality of housing, crime and violence, and environmental conditions. Clinicians can leverage this knowledge to improve treatment planning for patients and health outcomes.

Health outcomes are influenced in myriad ways by an individual’s social environment and their community. For example, community is linked to such outcomes as body mass index, homicide rates, and suicidal behavior (Diez Roux & Mair, 2010; Bharmal et al., 2015; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.). Due to these strong influences on health outcomes, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services Healthy People 2030 campaign identifies social and community context as a domain of the social determinants of health. Social determinants of health are external conditions which exist with the potential to affect a patient’s current and future health, often beyond a patient’s direct control. Of particular importance, however, is how this domain fits into the larger picture of the social determinants of health. The elements in the social and community context have been shown to help negate potentially negative consequences of the other social determinants of health (Bharmal et al., 2015).

Within healthcare, a patient with limited English proficiency (LEP) is an individual whose primary means of communication is not English and who has a limited command of the language in reading, writing, speaking, or understanding (Office for Civil Rights, 2016). These patients need the careful attention of healthcare personnel to ensure the safety and quality of care. Healthcare professionals should understand regulations and standards related to patients with LEP, such as the use of an interpreter for communication.

The goal of this educational program is to improve the ability of the healthcare team to provide quality care and better outcomes for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Healthcare workers will often interact with patients who make up stories or memories that are inaccurate, sometimes wildly so. These patients are not lying, they are confabulating. A nurse who knows how to manage confabulation can help these patients. With proper interventions, most patients can stop confabulating or learn to manage the condition. This course will give you a solid foundation of knowledge about and skills to handle confabulation by explaining what it is, who does it, what causes it, and how to manage it.

The goal of this course is to inform nurses in the acute care setting about confabulation and how to assess and manage patients with confabulation.

Healthcare professionals are responsible for implementing infection prevention techniques. This course reviews how pathogenic organisms spread in healthcare settings, infection prevention strategies for healthcare professionals, and occupational health strategies to control the spread of infectious and communicable diseases.

The goal of this course is to provide nursing and medical assistant professionals in the healthcare setting with a general overview of infection prevention strategies.

Nurses deliver infusion therapy to millions of patients in hospitals, home healthcare settings, long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics, and physicians’ offices annually. Nursing professionals perform many daily activities involving peripheral catheter insertion and safe delivery of intravenous (IV) fluids and medications. The use of vascular access devices and IV therapy are commonplace in the acute care setting. With that said, clinicians must take caution due to the potentially serious and fatal complications that can occur from inappropriate IV fluid or drug delivery. Patient safety requires that nurses institute safeguards to avoid complications associated with IV treatment.

Needlestick injuries continue to pose a threat to all healthcare professionals (HCPs). While HIV was once the most concerning organism, today, hepatitis B and C take precedence (King & Strony, 2022). Regardless of circumstances, more than 90% of sharps injuries are preventable (International Safety Center [ISC], n.d.). Therefore, all healthcare clinicians must be diligent to avoid injury even in busy and stressful working conditions. This module will review the current literature on managing the most common bloodborne pathogens (BBP) transmitted by needlestick injuries and evaluating post-exposure prophylaxis.