Putting prevention into practice

One of the three broad goals of Healthy People 2000 is that preventive services will be available to all Americans. Although there is professional agreement on the merits of prevention, there are challenges related to implementing preventive health care. Six of these challenges are confusion in terminology, issues related to nursing autonomy and initiative, differing conceptual frameworks, complexity of coordination within a delivery system that does not reward preventive services, prevalent cultural beliefs, and lack of uniform recommendations regarding prevention. The Put Prevention into Practice (PPIP) program is a national strategy to address those challenges. The American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners contributed to the development of the PPIP program. These organizations are actively disseminating the information through train-the-trainer methodology and other educational programs that will prepare nurses to improve the health of the population through the provision of preventive health services.