Young, Nancy

10.31.2008

No Tricks, Only Treats

For anyone interested in public health quality improvement efforts:

1. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has updated its www.healthfinder.gov to include more information on disease prevention for consumers, and developed a Consensus Statement on Quality in the Public Health System. 


2. The North Carolina Public Health Institute is offering a national webcast on December 15 entitled, Public Health Survival: Leadership in a Falling Market.  For more information go to http://www.sph.unc.edu/nciph/public_health_survival_leadership_in_a_falling_market_8968_9396.html


For WIQI Project Partners:

1. The WIQI Forum (for registered users only) has been reorganized to allow for easier access. This includes renaming some of the resource files so they describe the contents more precisely.

2. A polling function is now available in the forum, but don't worry, we will NOT use it to request input on the upcoming elections.  

 

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State Health Officer Webcast - On October 24, 2008 

I had the privilege of sharing the bill with Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary, Karen Timberlake, during a live webcast for Wisconsin's state, local and tribal health departments.  Attached is a PDF of the presentation. Feel free to use it locally and please contact me if you have additional questions.

Click Here for the PDF of the presentation

 

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Quality Improvement Session at APHA

Doug Gieryn, Director of the Winnebago County Health Department shared this with us.  

Those attending the American Public Health Association Meeting in San Diego next week might want to catch this presentation:

Applying quality improvement techniques to drive results #189198
Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 8:30 AM

Co-presented by:
Ron Bialek, MPP, Public Health Foundation, Washington, DC
John W. Moran, PhD, CQM, Quality Improvement, Public Health Foundation, Washington, DC
Sarah Gillen, National Network of Public Health Institutes, New Orleans, LA

 

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Essential services teleconference series continues with adjustments 

This morning during the essential services teleconference, we decided to change the format of future calls a bit. During the coming week, Lieske Giese, will send out the essential services summary for V and VI. Project partners should review the document in advance and be prepared to bring up questions or suggestions related to those items that may be challenging at the next teleconference which we be at 8 AM on November 3. (Call in specifics are posted below by popular demand.)  

We also underscored the fact that this is an exploratory process, especially this year, and that scoring examples provided by the Regional Office Directors thus far are just that - examples - not a cookbook that would direct the way project partners score themselves. PLEASE remember that your honest, local assessment is most important.  Make the best decisions you can based on the teleconference discussions, the guidance from the NACCHO tool, and your instincts.  And record for your own reference (and for the good of the other project partners and the national effort if you decide to share your rationale) the reasons you scored yourself the way you did. There is a place to record notes on the online NACCHO LHD Self Assessment site and the project will provide you with an Excel template should you decide that format is better suited to your needs. 

The Forum discussion will be updated with some new questions and resources based on today's call also.  Look for a link to the CHIP website and a slide set on partnership indicators shared by Terri Timmers as a result of this morning's discussion. 

Upcoming calls:

•  Monday, November 3, 8-9 am - Essential Services 4 (Standard IV.B forward),5 and 6 

•  Monday, November 10, 8-9 am - Remaining Essential Services with additional calls to be scheduled as needed

Wisline Call in instructions

Local Number: 608-265-1000

Toll Free Number: 800-462-1257

Passcode:  1961 (followed by the # sign)

For technical assistance or to report problems during your conference call the U.W. Extension Helpline at 1-800-442-4614

Remember- As this project continues, we will depend on our project partners more and more to visit the web-based Project Portal and participate in the Forum discussions.

 

 

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October 20, 2008 WIQI Accreditation Project Update.

An invitation - to view the items that were posted in the Forum (for registered project partners) this past week under the Subforum, "Quality Improvement Resources." Included are a basic QI template and sample briefing sheet; a sample QI policy from the Tacoma (WA) Health Department, a useful PDSA illustration from Michigan; and a web link for those who wish to learn more about QI management tools.  Look for more resource postings this week.

Project partners who haven't taken the opportunity to post a comment, question or suggestion in the forums should consider doing so this week.  While this is a new method of communicating for many, it holds great potential for keeping the project alive and relevant, if you participate.  A few brave souls have ventured in.  Please join us this week!

And finally a reminder - to join the Wisconsin Division of Public Health Regional Office Directors for the Monday morning teleconference series if you would like to be part of the essential services review discussion.  All project partners should have received call-in information.  Have a great week!  

October WIQI Accreditation Project Update

• Project partners are to complete their assessment using the NACCHO local health department self-assessment tool prior to January 31, 2009.

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