Posts Tagged ‘Public health accreditation’

Accreditation Gaining Momentum

January 31st, 2013

We’re fully committed to achieving national public health accreditation and are well on our way.  Accreditation will bring us a gold star for the work we’re doing to meet the ten essential public health standards and will validate our collaborative relationships with our partners and our governing body.  Our efforts are led by a steering committee made up of our senior leadership team including Dr. Janet Mullen, Don Herrington, Sheila Sjolander, Carol Vack, Dr. Cara Christ, Dr. Khaleel Hussaini and Pragathi Tummala…  who provide oversight and guidance to the Managing for Excellence program to make sure we’re on track.  I’m happy to report that we’re on track for applying for accreditation at the end of 2013.   It’s a complicated process, but I want to touch on some highlights. 

Before we can even apply, we have to complete three prerequisites: a Strategic Plan, State Health Assessment, and a State Health Improvement Plan.  Our strategic plan is done, and is being updated annually.  The State Health Assessment is currently underway, with each of our counties conducting their own community health assessments in order to identify for themselves the health priorities for their communities.  Based on these results we’ll work with our state partners to create a State Health Improvement Plan in the spring to identify strategies and resources to address the issues that rise to the top.  By working with our partners to collaborate, we’re strengthening the public health infrastructure and building relationships that will continue on beyond accreditation.  When we work with people and build a team of strong partners, the relationships we create will ensure sustained success for our mission.  The team win is so much more valuable in the long run. 

We’ve also begun the process of collecting all the evidence we’ll need to demonstrate compliance with national standards for public health accreditation.  Twelve domain teams have begun their work, led by Dr. Khaleel Hussaini, Jessica Rigler, Sheila Sjolander, Carol Vack, Tom Salow, Patricia Tarango, Karen Sell, Tifney Tihey, Bernard Sanden, Dr. Janet Mullen, Jennifer Botsford, and Colby Bower.  Many of you will be tapped by these team leads to help gather the evidence we need to provide the documents to demonstrate compliance with the required standards and measures that are part of each domain. 

While we’re jumping through the necessary hoops to prove that we’re consistently providing the 10 essential public health standards, we’re accomplishing much more than that.  The road to accreditation will continue to bring forth opportunities for advancing our agency, building stronger partnerships, and increasing employee engagement- resulting in better public health outcomes.

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Winnable Battles

May 4th, 2012

As part of our strategic plan, we name 5 winnable battles to prioritize over the next 1-3 years.  While not de-emphasizing work in other areas, this is an important effort to achieve measurable impact quickly in a few targeted areas.  We’ve identified five areas as key domestic winnable battles for improving our state’s health, based on the scope of the burden and the ability to make significant progress in improving outcomes.  By identifying clear targets and by working closely with our public health partners, we can make significant progress in these areas.

These winnable battles include:  Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity to Reduce Obesity, Reducing Tobacco Use & Substance Abuse, Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections, Reducing Suicides, and Reducing Teen Pregnancy.  Through targeted activities, our programs are working to bring the most feasible and cost-effective strategies to fruition, making a meaningful impact on health in our state.  I’ve put together a presentation that addresses the state of the state and where we stand on our winnable battles. Check it out on our Managing for Excellence Website.

 

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Public Health’s 10 Essential Services

January 12th, 2012

Public Health’s 10 Essential Services

Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture – what is public health?  Public health is everywhere and is a part of the infrastructure that keeps our communities safe and healthy and focuses on the entire populations while other models may focus on the individual.  In the 1900s the average lifespan of people in the US increased by 30 years and according to an article by Bunker, Frazier, and Mosteller (1994), 25 years can be attributed to advances in public health. 

But what’s public health?  One way to describe it to newcomers is what we call the “10 Essential Public Health Services”, which summarizes and categorizes public health into 10 core disciplines.  Here they are: 

  • Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems… (what’s going on in our state/community? Do we know how healthy we are?)
  • Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community…  (Are we ready to respond to health problems or threats? How quickly do we find out about problems? How effective is our response?)
  • Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues and keeping folks informed about health issues and healthy choices… (How well do we keep all people and segments of our State informed about health issues?
  • Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems and engage people and organizations in health issues… (How well do we really get people and organizations engaged in health issues?)
  • Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts and plan and implement sound health policies… (What policies promote health in our State? How effective are we in planning and in setting health policies?)
  • Compliance with standards designed to that protect health and ensure safety..  (Are we effective at ensuring that our health regulations are  up-to-date, and do we gain compliance in effective, competent, and fair ways?)
  • Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable and make sure people receive the medical care they need… (Are people receiving the medical care they need?)
  • Assure a competent public health and medical workforce… (do we have a competent public health staff? How can we be sure that our staff stays current?)
  • Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services… (Are we doing any good? Are we doing things right? Are we doing the right things?)
  • Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems… (Are we discovering and using new ways to get the job done?)

When you get a chance, click on some of the elements above- I’m pretty sure you’ll see yourself and your program in a least a couple of places.  The elements above are independent of each other yet are complementary goals for communities to work toward.  The Community Toolbox has great information to further explore the services.  The elements above are also used as a foundation for the National Public Health Performance Standards Program instruments whose goal and mission are to improve the quality of public health practice and the performance of the public health system.  These instruments (assessments) are a part of the prerequisite for accreditation.

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Strategic Planning and Public Health Accreditation News

October 6th, 2011

As a follow up to my email earlier this month introducing you to the agency-wide efforts around accreditation and presentations of the draft strategic map, I’m happy to formally announce our new mission and vision: To improve the health and wellness of people and communities in Arizona (our Mission) and Health and Wellness for all Arizonans (our Vision).  These two small sentences say so much about who we are & where we’re going.  

During our presentation to the Division of Licensing Services last week, a great question was asked about the difference between the words health and wellness.  I addressed the group but wanted to share with the entire agency how I view the two and the distinction between them.  Health is the measure of optimal physical, mental and social conditions, with particular emphasis on the absence or successful management of disease and pain.  Wellness means the overall well-being of a person that includes the active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward greater satisfaction of one’s life in the areas of physical, emotional, social and spiritual life. 

So health is an outcome that can be fixed and measurable (e.g. blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc.), and wellness incorporates mind, body and spirit, and relies more on self-assessment and self-report.  For instance, many people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, etc. report high levels of well-being, while others who are in “good health” may report low levels of well-being.  If you get questions from stakeholders I am hoping this helps explain the difference.  I also want us to remember, that when we are talking about public health we are talking about all areas of our agency – prevention, preparedness, behavioral health, licensing, operations and the state hospital. 

As an update on the strategic map presentations, we completed our third strategic map presentation and have four more.  Next up is Public Health Prevention on October 17th.  If you have any questions please contact Managing for Excellence Program.

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