“Outside the Box” Programs Can Benefit Patients

A recent HealthLeaders Media article profiles the Centering Healthcare Institute’s CEO and President Sharon Schindler Rising and her "outside the box" approach to healthcare. Rising developed the Centering model of group healthcare and piloted the first CenteringPregnancy model in 1993 as a nurse midwife.

In Rising’s model, eight to twelve pregnant women with similar gestational ages meet 10 times in a group, receiving the same information and exams they would get in traditional prenatal care, but in a community setting. The program was popular with patients and providers, Rising told HealthLeaders. The Centering model has since received national recognition in research studies and CMS grants to create sites across the country.

Providing prenatal care in groups completely "disrupts" the normal model of healthcare delivery and Rising told HealthLeaders that many health systems are not ready for that kind of change. She is working not only to promote Centering, but also to change health systems and believes the time is right for “disruption” to the system, particularly with the relatively new emphasis placed on patient satisfaction and engagement, and patient-centered medical homes.

Twitter Chat Recap

Last week, INQRI grantee Marianne Weiss participated in a Twitter chat on patient empowerment, hosted by U.S. News and World Report.  With 263 participants, the chat moved pretty fast!  Panel members and many others shared tips for patients on how to prepare for doctor visits, keep track of medical information, ask the right questions, and ensure that they become partners in their care.

If you missed it (or missed some of it, considering the speed), you can check out the recap right here.  Dr. Weiss and INQRI were feeling pretty prolific - we had the top number of tweets (71) and the top number of mentions (121).  If you are interested in checking out the metrics of the chat, you can access them here.

Twitter Chat on Patient Empowerment

Tomorrow, U.S. News and World Report is hosting a live Twitter chat about empowering hospital patients.  Experts (including INQRI grantee Marianne Weiss*) will discuss how patients can become actively engaged and informed about their treatment.

Join us, using hashtag #PatientChat on Thursday, July 25 from 2pm-3pmET.

Moderator: @USNewsHealth
Experts: @RWJF, @theNPSF, @NPAF_tweets, @TrishaTorrey, @tedeytan, @RWJF_HumanCap, @INQRIprogram (*Dr. Weiss will use the INQRI Twitter handle)

Marianne Weiss, DNSc, RN, is a grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) and associate professor at Marquette University College of Nursing. She is an active researcher focusing on improving patients’ experience with hospital discharge and the role nurses play in discharge preparation and the discharge transition. Her research on patient perceptions of discharge teaching, readiness for discharge, and coping difficulty at home following hospital discharge have highlighted the importance of inclusion of patient voice to improve discharge experiences. Her work has included a broad base of patient populations including adult medical-surgical patients, parents of hospitalized children, and postpartum mothers.

 

Upcoming Event: The Voice of the Patient

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, the Donaghue Foundation will be hosting its fifth and final event in their Andrews Lecture Series, which honors the stewardship of their foundation by Ray Andrews from 1993-2007.

Sue Sheridan will present "The Voice of the Patient: Now making a difference in treatment, research and patient safety."

Sheridan is the Deputy Director for Patient Engagement at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and is responsible for creating networks and engaging patients across the nation to provide broad-based input on the development and execution of PCORI’s research. Sheridan became involved in patient safety after her family experienced two serious medical system failures. In 2003, Sheridan co-founded Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS), a nonprofit organization that seeks a safe, compassionate and just health care system through proactive partnership between consumers and providers of care. Sheridan served as President of CAPS from 2003-2010. From 2004-2011, she led the World Health Organization’s Patients for Patient Safety initiative, which embraces the collective wisdom of the patient, patient empowerment and patient-centered care.

For more details about the event, please visit the Donaghue Foundation's website.

Register Now: NAQC Event on Patient Engagement

Early registration is open for the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care's upcoming event, "Nurses' Contributions to Fostering Successful Patient Engagement" which will be held November 12 - 13, 2012 in Washington, DC.

The goal of this conference is to focus attention on the roles and strategies nurses can employ to strengthen the partnership among nurses and patients, as patients and families engage with the health care system to achieve the best health outcomes possible for themselves.This conference is designed for attendees to interactively engage with speakers and consumers to acquire knowledge and skills for implementation upon return to their own work settings.

Register Now.