Health Services Administration Commons^™

Improving Rhode Island’S Health Care System: Lessons From The Cuban Model, Sarah R. Moffitt

Senior Honors Projects

Improving Rhode Island’s health care system: lessons from the Cuban model

Cuba is world renowned for its health care system. In regards to international health crises, Cuba is a leader in sending workers abroad and training doctors from all over the world. Within its own borders, the Cuban model provides free access to all citizens in which every individual has a primary care provider. Cuba boasts high vaccination rates, a long life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and a population that is one of the healthiest in the western hemisphere.

The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the …

Chhs May 2015 E-Newsletter,, Dr. John Bonaguro, Dean, Vashon S. Wells, Editor, Wku College Of Health & Human Services

College of Health & Human Services Publications

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Clinical Healthcare Process Design: Investigating Applicability To Lean, Samuel Blake Ellsworth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Healthcare delivery is a process-driven sequence of patient care treatments and services. A prescribed method for process design is required in order for healthcare organizations of the future not just to innovate, but to safely provide highly-reliable patient care. Some healthcare organizations have established the utilization of lean methodologies as a tool for process improvement. Other philosophies and methods such as Six-Sigma have also been introduced into hospitals to guide quality. Many of these efforts have provided theories or perspectives of quality improvement without being firmly connected to a model of application relative to clinical process design, process formulation, or …

C-Train - The Care Transitions Innovation - Analysis Of Program Impacts, Bill J. Wright, Keri B Vartanian, Megan Holtorf, Nicole Olson, Leif Rustvold, Honora Englander (C-Train Program Contact)

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Location Gap: Physician Perspectives Of Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration In Patient Care (Bridge Phase Ii), Keri D. Hager, Donald Uden, Daniel M. Tomaszewski

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: To optimize patient outcomes, the patient-centred medical home model emphasizes comprehensive team-based care. Pharmacists are qualified to enhance appropriate medication use and help improve patient outcomes through provision of medication therapy management (MTM) services. To optimally provide MTM, pharmacists must effectively collaborate with physicians. This study explored factors that influence pharmacist-physician collaboration.

Methods and Findings: A convenience sample of five physicians participated in semi-structured interviews and the resulting data were analyzed using qualitative methods. Transcripts of the interviews were independently coded for themes by two researchers. Five themes emerged: trustworthiness, role specification, relationship initiation, effects on practice, …

Evaluation Of Patient To Provider Oriented Telemedicine In Hospitals And Physician Practices, Macklin G. Gaynor

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This project explores barriers to telemedicine adoption and meaningful integration with contemporary healthcare delivery systems.

Conception To Implementation: Quality Improvement In Behavioral Health Home Organizations, Elizabeth A. Miller

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This capstone project developed quality improvement tools to be used by community mental health agencies participating in the Maine Behavioral Health Homes Initiative. Providing technical assistance, analysis of feedback, and developing recommendations were the foundation of this project with a central tenet to enhance the existing Quality Improvement Project Template created by MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid Office. These recommendations suggest the Quality Improvement Project Template may be improved by providing an additional fillable quality improvement process outline, providing a list of example projects and focus areas for quality improvement projects, and providing tools to assist in implementation of quality improvement projects. …

Book Review: Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine And What Matters In The End, Sue Sutton

Patient Experience Journal

In her review of Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End written by Atul Gawande, MD, Sue Sutton shares both the insights of Dr. Gawande and their important perspectives for person-centered experience. She reinforces that in this day of increased focus on understanding patient’s expectations and patient-focused care, Dr. Gawande compels us to learn how to have the difficult conversations about what really matters. She closes the review with a compelling quote from the author, "I never expected that among the most meaningful experiences I’d have as a doctor— and, really, as a human being— would come …

Creating And Integrating A New Patient Experience Leadership Role: A Consultative Approach For Partnering With Executive And Clinical Leaders, Denise M. Kennedy

Patient Experience Journal

Many healthcare organizations are creating new leadership roles to add subject matter expertise and structure to their patient experience improvement efforts. The patient experience field is emerging, however, so there are many questions about this role’s function and how best to structure it in the organization for maximal effectiveness.

This article explores the benefits of a consultative approach for improving the patient experience. Previous research on management consulting and the integration of new roles in established organizations is briefly reviewed. Mayo Clinic Arizona’s (MCA) comprehensive, "7-prong" service model is revisited. Developed and implemented in 2008, the model is predicated on …

Health Information Technology: A Key Ingredient Of The Patient Experience, Matthew Werder

Patient Experience Journal

In this exploration to understand the linkages of health information technology (HIT) and patient experience, a comprehensive literature search was conducted using the key words, “information technology, HIT, patient experience, patient satisfaction, and technology”, on the MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE databases resulting in over 1,000 citations. Eventually, 35 of the most relevant articles were reviewed and 11 identified as key references to include in beginning to explore the question, as the transformation of healthcare continues, how can technology enable a positive return on investment to a patients’ perception of their care in an organization and how can technology impact the …

Variations In The Patients’ Hospital Care Experience By States’ Strategy For Medicaid Expansion: 2009-2013, Edmund Becker, Kenton Johnston Phd, Jaeyong Bae, Jason M. Hockenberry Phd, Ariel C. Avgar, Sandra Liu, Ira Wilson, Arnold Milstein Md, Mph

Patient Experience Journal

Our investigation evaluates the extent of differences in the patient’s hospital experience due to variations among state strategies to adopt, or not adopt, their Medicaid plans to the 2010 ACA legislation. Using ten HCAHPS measures, we analyze patient hospital experience data for the 2009 - 2013 period for all 50 states and the District of Columbia grouped by those states that (1) did not expand, (2) expanded Medicaid through Section 1115 waivers, (3) expanders early, and (4) expanded Medicaid concurrent with the new ACA legislation.

Our findings reveal that those states that opted out of Medicaid expansion typically started with …

Cancer Patients’ Experiences Of Error And Consequences During Diagnosis And Treatment, Henriette Lipczak, Liv H. Dørflinger, Christine Enevoldsen, Mette M. Vinter, Jeanne L. Knudsen

Patient Experience Journal

The study objective was to investigate patient experienced error during diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The design included a nationwide patient survey on quality and safety in Danish cancer care. Responses regarding patient experienced error were separately analyzed, quantitative responses using descriptive statistics and qualitative responses using systematic text analysis. Study participants included 6,720 adult patients with a first time diagnosis of cancer registered between May 1st and August 31st 2010. The patients received a questionnaire concerning their experiences of care received by general practitioners, specialist practitioners and at the hospital. A response rate of 65% was achieved. 10 – …

Patient Complaints As Predictors Of Patient Safety Incidents, Helen L. Kroening, Bronwyn Kerr, James Bruce, Iain Yardley

Patient Experience Journal

Patients remain an underused resource in efforts to improve quality and safety in healthcare, despite evidence that they can provide valuable insights into the care they receive. This study aimed to establish whether high-level patient safety incidents (HLIs) were predictable from preceding complaints, enabling complaints to be used to prevent HLIs. For this study complaints received from November 2011 through June 2012 and HLI incident reports from April through September 2012 were examined. Complaints and HLIs were categorised according to location or specialty and the themes they included. Data were analysed to look for correlations between number of complaints and …

Weighting Patient Satisfaction Factors To Inform Health Care Providers Of The Patient Experience In The Age Of Social Media Consumer Sentiment, Blaine Parrish, Amita N. Vyas, Grace Douglass

Patient Experience Journal

The researchers explored the possibility that patients would go beyond simple ranking and could give weight to previously validated and reliable patient satisfaction factors, while also describing their online habits related to the patient experience and health seeking information in order to inform medical providers on what patients say matters most when evaluating satisfaction with their provider. One thousand one hundred and sixty-four adults completed a 13- item web-based quantitative survey, developed by public health researchers, to weight patient satisfaction factors and describe online health seeking habits of patients across the United States. Proportional weights for each of the patient …

Patient Satisfaction Reported By In-Visit And After-Visit Surveys, Rukiya Wongus, Nicholas H. Schluterman, Sharon Feinstein, Nihkolle Mcgirt, Deborah R. Greenberg, David B. Schwartz

Patient Experience Journal

Patient experience measurement has become a basic requirement for every healthcare provider organization. Yet, when the timing and mode of survey administration are considered, there is skepticism about the usefulness of ‘after- visit’ patient experience surveys to measure satisfaction and identify opportunities to improve service or health care quality. The aim of this observational study was to compare patient satisfaction among those who rated the patient experience at the conclusion of their outpatient appointment while still in the office, to that among those who rated the patient experience up to one month after their outpatient appointment via a mailed survey. …

Considering Shared Power And Responsibility: Diabetic Patients’ Experience With The Pcmh Care Model, Olena Mazurenko Md, Phd, Sheila Bock Phd, Catherine Prato, Margarita Bondarenko

Patient Experience Journal

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH), an innovative primary care model that fosters a stronger, more personal patient-doctor relationship than traditional health care models, should be particularly well suited for the treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes that require ongoing management by both patients and providers. Despite growing research on the effectiveness of PCMHs in diabetes care, relatively little attention has been given to diabetic patients’ experiences. This qualitative study examines diabetic patients’ experiences at one PCMH setting, using in-depth interviews to understand patients’ perspectives of the shared power and responsibility between patient and provider in their diabetes care. Our …

The Children’S Hospital Of Philadelphia Family Partners Program: Promoting Child And Family-Centered Care In Pediatrics, Amy Kratchman, Ba, Darlene Barkman, Ma, Kathy Conaboy, Ba, Anna De La Motte, Msed, Rachel Biblow, Msw, Katherine Bevans, Phd

Patient Experience Journal

Involving Family Advisory Councils in decisions that impact pediatric healthcare demonstrates hospitals’ commitment to child- and family-centered care. Yet, reliance on advisors as the sole source of family input has several limitations: infrequent meetings impedes the council’s capacity to address emerging concerns in a timely manner; feedback obtained from a small number of highly-engaged family members may not represent the perspectives of “typical” patients and families; advisors provide feedback in a reactive manner and are generally not equitably involved in problem identification or the initial development of solutions. In recognition of the need to strengthen and advance family partnerships, the …

Patient Partnership In Quality Improvement Of Healthcare Services: Patients’ Inputs And Challenges Faced, Marie-Pascale Pomey, Hassiba Hihat, May Khalifa, Paule Lebel, André Néron, Vincent Dumez

Patient Experience Journal

This research focuses on the perception of patients who participated in Continuous Quality Improvement Committees (CIC) regarding their contribution, lessons learned, and challenges encountered. The committees are engaged in a care partnership approach where patients are recognized for their experiential knowledge and treated as full members of the clinical team. Based on patient interviews, we conclude that they bring a structured and thoughtful vision of their experience. They identify themselves as real partners in the care process and are grateful for the opportunity to improve the care provided to other patients by using their own experience and by bringing changes …

Meaningful And Effective Patient Engagement: What Matters Most To Stakeholders, Mandy Bellows, Katharina Kovacs Burns, Karen Jackson, Brae Surgeoner, Jennifer Gallivan

Patient Experience Journal

To determine what resources, preparation, and support are needed for patients, providers, and leaders to meaningfully and appropriately engage in patient-centred health system redesign, researchers sought to learn what really matters to these three stakeholder groups. A qualitative descriptive design was selected using purposive participant sampling, focusing on ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions pertaining to stakeholder perceptions about patient engagement in their specific context as patients, providers or leaders. Four project groups were selected; each group was responsible for a strategic initiative within Alberta Health Services and represented one of three different levels of the healthcare system (i.e. program, site …

The Power Of Patient Ownership: The Path From Engagement To Equity, Zal Press, Dawn Richards

Patient Experience Journal

Understanding patient engagement from the lens of a person who is suffering, who is in pain and anguish, who is wracked with fear of the impact of this pain on their body, their family, their career, and their mortality, is a complex undertaking. The authors provide an important patient perspective in acknowledging and highlighting efforts to shift the conversation on experience from one about patients and families to one with patients and families. They challenge us to consider the power that can be found in creating ownership for patients and suggest it may be the one true path to moving …