Health Policy Commons^™

Transforming The Patient Experience: Bringing To Life A Patient- And Family-Centred Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Model Of Care At Kingston General Hospital, Anndale Mctavish Ma, Cynthia Phillips Rrt, Med

Patient Experience Journal

The Kingston General Hospital strategic plan includes transforming the patient experience and bringing to life new models of interprofessional care and education. The implementation of the Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Model has been the foundation of this transformational change. Areas identified for improvement included communication, discharge planning, and purposeful engagement of patients and families in the care process. Through a system-wide approach to change, it was expected that the organization would be better prepared to deliver safer, higher quality care and enriched experiences for patients, families and practitioners. From March to October 2009, 54 representatives from various disciplines and services gathered …

Patients And Families As Partners In Safety, Quality, And Experiences Of Care, Amy Jones, Kathy Dutton

Patient Experience Journal

This case examines the highlights of Vidant Health’s journey to a more intentional focus on patient experience. Organizational inconsistencies lead to a focused long term plan putting a culture of patient centeredness at the core of Vidant’s efforts. The results show a clear and measured improvement in safety, quality and experience overall.

A Daughter’S Frustration With The Dearth Of Patient- And Family-Centered Care, Cindy Brach

Patient Experience Journal

Patient involvement in decision-making is an increasingly recognized ethical imperative, one that requires attention to health literacy. Health care that is truly patient- and family-centered, however, is the exception rather than the rule. This first person account of a hospitalization describes the lack of patient and family inclusion in decision-making, failure to use plain language and other health literacy strategies, and disregard for patient and family preferences. The author concludes that if the health care system is going to shift from paternalistic to patient- and family-centered, providers must be trained how to communicate and partner with patients and families. Even …

“Working The System”: The Experience Of Being A Primary Care Patient, Michelle La Nelson Phd, Mark G. Torchia Phd, Jennifer B. Mactavish Phd, Ruby E. Grymonpre Pharmd

Patient Experience Journal

Health care providers and system administrators are in the midst of a paradigm shift; moving from paternalism toward an egalitarian approach. For patient centred care to occur, health care providers must prioritize patient needs; provide information regarding treatments while taking patient preferences and expectations into account. While there is literature regarding patient centredness, there is less information from the patient perspective about the experience of being a patient and the influence on behaviour. Using phenomenological research methods and the theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical framework, this study addressed the questions, a) what is the essence of being a …

Evaluation And Measurement Of Patient Experience, Sherri L. Lavela Phd, Mph, Mba, Andrew S. Gallan Phd

Patient Experience Journal

Despite the increasing presence of a variety of measures of patient health care experiences in research and policy, there remains a lack of consensus regarding measurement. The objectives of this paper were to: (1) explore and describe what is known about measures and measurement of patient experience and (2) describe evaluation approaches/methods used to assess patient experience.

Patient-experience does not simply reflect clinical outcomes or adherence–driven outcomes; rather it seeks to represent a unique encompassing dimension that is challenging to measure. Several challenges exist when measuring patient experience, in part, because it is a complex, ambiguous concept that lacks a …

How Does Patient Experience Fit Into The Overall Healthcare Picture?, Karen Luxford Bsc(Hons), Phd, Faim, Faaqhc, Sue Sutton Rn, Phd, Fhimss

Patient Experience Journal

Understanding the experience of patients provides insight into health care as well as being a crucial first step towards partnering with patients to drive improvement. Increasingly, health care organizations gain feedback from patients about their experience through surveys. Patients are also turning to other avenues, including the internet, to document their experiences.

Although long recognised as a domain of quality, evidence of the link between patient experience and clinical outcomes has emerged more recently. Organizations that succeed in improving patient experience have adopted a strategic approach to patient focus that incorporates both patient feedback and consumer engagement.

Adopting a patient …

Defining Patient Experience, Jason A. Wolf Phd, Cpxp, Victoria Niederhauser Drph, Rn, Dianne Marshburn Phd, Rn, Ne-Bc, Sherri L. Lavela Phd, Mph, Mba

Patient Experience Journal

In recent years, perceptions of performance and quality of healthcare organizations have begun to move beyond examining the provision of excellent clinical care, alone, and to consider and embrace the patient experience as an important indicator. There is a need to determine the extent to which clear and formal definitions exist, have common overarching themes, and/or have unique, but important constructs that should be considered more widely. In this article, we provide a 14-year synthesis of existing literature and other sources (2000-2014) that have been used to define patient experience. A total of 18 sources (articles or organizational websites) were …

Concern For The Patient’S Experience Comes Of Age, Irwin Press Phd

Patient Experience Journal

In this special guest editorial for the inaugural issue of Patient Experience Journal. Dr. Press reflects on how the focus on patient experience has evolved. He starts with a reflection, "A journal devoted exclusively to the patient’s experience? A patient satisfaction survey mandated by CMS for all hospitals and a portion of reimbursement dependent upon the scores? An Institute and an “Association” addressing Patient Experience? A new hospital administrative position labeled “Chief Experience Officer”? Some 30 years ago no one would have predicted any of these."

Dr. Press helps us explore and review how the patient experience movement has …

Expanding The Dialogue On Patient Experience, Jason A. Wolf Phd

Patient Experience Journal

It is with great excitement that I welcome you to the inaugural issue of Patient Experience Journal (PXJ). This publication in so many ways epitomizes all that is right and good about the patient experience movement itself. That being: no one individual or organization owns this conversation or can claim to have every answer, but rather it is a true effort of a community of voices from research to practice, from caregivers to patients and family members, across the care continuum and into the reaches of resources provided and concepts yet unknown.

This journal is a product of and …

Editorial Comment: Changing The Rules In Vaccine Coverage For Vulnerable Populations, Nancy L. Winterbauer

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Increasing life expectancy through decreasing vaccine preventable deaths is a hallmark of modern public health in the United States (1). Two federal vaccine programs help insure coverage for vulnerable populations. The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program provides vaccines to eligible children[1] at no cost, removing financial barriers to vaccinations. Close to half of US children and 30 percent of adolescents are vaccinated through the VFC program yearly (2). The federal Section 317 Immunization Grant Program (Section 317) complements VFC by supporting the national immunization infrastructure, primarily immunization workforce, delivery systems, and emergency response, as well as by providing vaccines …

The Effects Of The Changes In Section 317 Rules For Administration Of Federally Purchased Vaccines, Margaret A. Knight, Anne D. Kershenbaum, Martha Buchanan, Janet Ridley, Paul C. Erwin

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Section 317 of the Public Health Services Act is a federal program that provides funds for the purchase of vaccines. These annual Congressional allocations fluctuate from year to year as Congress responds to changes in national needs for immunizations. The Affordable Care Act requires first dollar coverage of immunizations and other preventive care, allowing a reduction in federal funding for vaccine purchase and a reallocation of funds to other uses such as infrastructure development. In fiscal year 2013, Section 317 rules redefined the population eligible for immunization with Section 317 purchased vaccines. In Tennessee, the response was a policy change …

Editorial Comment: A Method For Identifying Positive Deviant Local Health Departments In Maternal And Child Health, Sharla A. Smith, Michael A. Preston, Marylou Wallace

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children is a vital public health initiative in the United States. Local health departments are designated agents for addressing maternal and child health outcomes. Klaiman and colleagues used a positive deviant (PD) framework in identifying the modifiable activities and approaches for LHDs that contribute to better MCH outcomes.

A Method For Identifying Positive Deviant Local Health Departments In Maternal And Child Health, Tamar A. Klaiman, Athena Pantazis, Betty Bekemeier

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Local health departments (LHDs) are under increasing pressure to improve performance with limited resources. While research has found that financial resources may be associated with better health outcomes, there are some LHDs that maintain exceptional performance, even with limited budgets. Our interest was identifying LHDs that positively deviate in MCH outcomes compared to their peers while taking into account local context including geography and finances. We found that our method for identifying positive deviants was effective, and that LHD expenditures may not be linked to MCH outcomes. The next step in our work is to conduct in-depth analysis with positive …

Editorial Comment: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis For Prioritization Of Limited Public Health Resources - Tuberculosis Interventions In Texas, Kaja M. Abbas

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Public health departments have limited evidence to understand and analyze the costs and benefits of different health programs, including tuberculosis control and prevention programs. The study by Miller et. al addresses this challenge to estimate costs and benefits of tuberculosis prevention programs in Texas and identify cost-effective diagnostic and treatment combinations, thereby improving the evidence-based decision making power of the public health departments.

Playing To Our Strengths: An Academic/Health Department Collaboration To Facilitate Public Protections Against Tuberculosis, Thaddeus L. Miller, Erin K. Carlson, Nuha A. Lackan

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Background:

Economic modeling and analysis can facilitate evidence-based policy and practice. Such analyses may exceed the technical capacity and mission of public health agencies, yet may be critical to sustain health protections such as tuberculosis (TB) control. The net effect of TB prevention is incompletely understood, hampering objective value judgments of national TB elimination policies. This may promote inefficiencies and threaten individual and public health protections.

We describe how a HRSA-funded Texas Public Health Training Center (TPHTC) coordinated specialized analytical skills with the needs of a state public health department to create a user-friendly tool to inform planning and resource …

Editorial Comment: Differences In Definitions Of Ebph And Evidence: Implications For Communication With Practitioners, Paul C. Erwin

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Through interviews of 12 members of an expert panel – importantly, involving both practitioners and researchers/academicians – Aronson and colleagues sought to understand how evidence-based public health (EBPH) is defined, what counts as “evidence”, and what EBPH actually looks like when operationalized in a local health department. What Aronson and colleagues have shown us is how critical it is that in both creating and implementing EBPH, especially in practice-based research, practitioner and researcher/academician develop a shared understanding of EBPH before the dance begins, especially for practice-based research.

Differences In Definitions Of Ebph And Evidence: Implications For Communication With Practitioners., Robert E. Aronson, Kay Lovelace, Mark Smith, Gulzar H. Shah

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

In this study, we interviewed twelve members of an expert panel to elicit their views on Evidence-based Public Health (EBPH), including how they define EBPH, what constitutes “evidence”, and what LHDs do that can be described as EBPH. Telephone interviews lasting 60 minutes were recorded and transcribed for basic content analysis. Experts differed in their definitions of EBPH and their views of what constitutes evidence. Definitions of EBPH ranged from the adoption and implementation of rigorously tested interventions to the application of evidence to decision making for population health improvement. Views on what constitutes evidence also varied, from strict “evidence …

Assessing Impacts Of Time Use On Children's Physical Fitness In Relation To Risk For Obesity And Diabetes, Jessica Guo

PSU Transportation Seminars

Researchers from the transportation, planning and health fields share the common goal of promoting physically active lifestyle. One challenge that researchers often face is the measurement of physical activity, particularly among children. This is because the sporadic nature of children’s physical activity patterns makes it difficult to recall and quantify such activities. Additionally, children’s lower cognitive functioning compared to adults prevents them from accurately recalling their activities. This presentation will describe the design and application of a novel self-report instrument - the Graphs for Recalling Activity Time (GReAT) - for measuring children’s activity time use patterns. The instrument was applied …

Lhds' Implementation And Evaluation Of Strategies To Target Psychological, Mental Health, And Other Behavioral Healthcare Needs Of The Underserved Population, Gulzar H. Shah, Huabin Luo, Carolyn J. Leep, Nancy L. Winterbauer

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Presentations (2008-2022)

Background: Underserved subgroups face barriers when accessing behavioral healthcare. Local health departments (LHDs) are charged with “linking people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of healthcare when otherwise unavailable”.

Research Objectives: 1) To assess the extent to which LHDs implement and evaluate strategies to target the behavioral healthcare needs for the underserved populations; 2) To identify factors that are associated with these undertakings.

Datasets and Sources: Data were drawn from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments Study conducted by National Association of County and City Health Officials The Module 2 questionnaire of the Profile contained …

Understanding Hiv Care Delays In The Us South And The Role Of The Social-Level In Hiv Care Engagement/Retention: A Qualitative Study, Courtenay Sprague, Sara E. Simon

Center for Peace, Democracy and Development Publications

Introduction: In a significant geographical shift in the distribution of HIV infection, the US South - comprising 17 states - now has the greatest number of adults and adolescents with HIV (PLHIV) in the nation. More than 60% of PLHIV are not in HIV care in Alabama and Mississippi, contrasted with a national figure of 25%. Poorer HIV outcomes raise concerns about HIV-related inequities for southern PLHIV, which warrant further study. This qualitative study sought to understand experiences of low-income PLHIV on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program in engagement and retention in continuous HIV care in two sites in Alabama. …