This chapter explores how population-based health care is defined and practiced.

Population-based health care practice is the development, provision, and evaluation of multidisciplinary health care services to population groups experiencing significant health risk. A partnership forms between multidisciplinary team members, health care consumers, and the community to improve the health of the community and its diverse populations. The goals are to improve health care service access and quality, while reducing cost and health disparity among different populations. Population-based interventions are focused upon the population, health systems, and community to improve overall health. Measurable outcomes are tracked to include changes in health status, functional abilities, and quality of life. These initiations exist on a global, national, and regional level.

A subset of the above is population-based nursing practice. This nursing practice focuses upon improving the health status of high risk and marginalized populations by employing health promotion and disease prevention across the continuum of care.

Two types of population-based nursing practice are reviewed, traditional and nontraditional. The traditional practice model usually starts with a community health needs assessment that identifies health priorities and vulnerable populations. The non traditional model starts with a predetermined at-risk population and is followed by a direct health assessment targeted at the identified population.

The nursing process is used to assess, diagnose, plan, implement, and evaluate nursing practice. Population assessments are often governed by a model serving as a guide. The next step is to use the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) to identify the etiology and evidence supporting the diagnostic category. Planning and implementation is drawn from community health nursing. Multiple examples are included in the text. Data is collected to formulate the evaluation that reflects aggregated response of the population as it relates to outcome. Program evaluation is conducted to determine effect and justification of resources including improved health status, cost versus benefit, functional abilities, and quality of life.