AAN News & Opinion
A call to action: Expanded research agenda for women's health
Recently, reports were released by the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research on Women's Health, and the Institute of Medicine suggesting women's health research agendas. These reports stimulated commentary from the American Academy of Nursing's Women's Health Expert Panel. This commentary identified the need for an expanded research agenda for women's health that was published in Nursing Outlook (Shaver, Olshansky, & Woods, 2013). The following call to action highlights the most critical areas that were not included in these reports.Where we are today: Prioritizing women’s health services and health policy. A report by the Women's Health Expert Panel of the American Academy of Nursing
There has been a recent resurgence of interest in women's health as evidenced by several federal and international policy-shaping reports that will impact women's health services. These reports include the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the formation of the National Prevention Council and Strategy, the 2011 IOM report on clinical preventives services for women, and the World Health Organization strategic plan for 2010-2015. In this paper, we summarize and discuss these reports and discuss implications of enacting the suggested health policies.Women’s health in jeopardy: Failure to curb unintended pregnancies: A statement from the AAN Women’s Health Expert Panel
Care of and access to health care for women across the age span has always been at the forefront of nursing’s advocacy through education, practice, and research. One well-recognized method to improve the health status of women and children lies in managing unintended pregnancies; however, evidence shows that little progress has been made on this front. Threatening to roll back what little progress has been made, as well as the potential to achieve better management of unintended pregnancies, contemporary health policy fails to consistently ensure access to high-quality reproductive health care for all women in the United States.
