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All Subjects: Children
All Subjects: Chronic Pain
Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

Family-Centered Perspectives to Improving Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs

Description

It is well known that the lack of care coordination in the healthcare system causes numerous problems including cost inefficiency and inconsistent care, specifically for complex pediatric and adult patients. Many pediatric patients have complex medical and social service needs which can be expensive for both the patient’s parents and the general healthcare system. Therefore, it is difficult for the healthcare system to deliver the highest quality care possible, due to the number of appointments that have to be scheduled (with some being out of state), the large volume of physical health records, and overall lack of time parents have to coordinate this care while also caring for themselves and other family members. It is integral to find a more efficient way to coordinate care for these patients, in order to improve overall care, cost efficiency, and outcomes. <br/>A number of stakeholders in Arizona came together to work on this problem over several years. They were funded through a PCORI Eugene Washington Engagement grant to investigators at ASU. This project, Take Action for Arizona's Children through Care Coordination: A Bridge to Action was developed in order to further develop a research agenda and build the network (PCOR). Regional conferences were conducted in Flagstaff, Yuma, Phoenix, and Tucson, as well as a final capstone conference held in Phoenix. At these conferences, frustrations, suggestions, and opinions regarding Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) and navigating the healthcare system were shared and testimonials were transcribed.<br/>This study focused on the capstone conference. The study design was a strategic design workshop; results of the design analysis were analyzed qualitatively using descriptive content analysis. Themes described parent’s common experiences navigating the system, impacts resulting from such experiences, and desires for the care coordination system. Quotes were then grouped into major themes and subthemes for the capstone conference. After these themes were determined, the overarching goals of stakeholders could be assessed, and implementation projects could be described.

ContributorsBrennan, Bayley (Author) / Doebbeling, Bradley (Thesis director) / Lamb, Gerri (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2021-05

Uncovering Organizational Positive Deviant Practices Influencing Low Opioid Prescribing Rates

Description

Over-prescription of opioid medications for chronic pain has been a major driver of the opioid abuse epidemic. Arizona has an opioid prescription rate of 50.7/100 persons annually, which is about the average US rate of 51.4/100 persons. Novel approaches to treat chronic pain and reduce opioid overuse are promptly needed. Using analysis of Medicaid prescribing data from across Arizona, Mountain Park Health Center was identified to have the lowest opioid prescribing rates among all Community Health Centers (CHC) in Arizona (14.2/100 persons) using analysis of Medicaid prescribing data from across Arizona. A healthy work culture of patient engagement, behavioral health integration into primary care (BHI), and active case management of SDoH issues were critical to successful opioid prescribing and management. In order to account for the complex systemic contributors towards opioid over-prescription, the underlying theoretical framework, positive deviance (PD), was used to uncover effective practices for notably low opioid prescribing. Focus groups of interdisciplinary provider teams (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and behavioral health) were structured around the PD inquiry approach. Participants were asked about practice and culture factors that might foster or enable low-prescribing practices. Focus group interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Six critical themes were identified after extensive qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts: medication management; non-opioid pain management; service integration; preventive strategies; patient and family engagement; underlying factors (including medical/behavior comorbidity and socioeconomic factors). These findings illustrate that this CHC system has a culture which values a high level of care integration, internal systems, and community partnerships to address patient social determinants of health, and patient engagement and provider norms to provide alternatives to opioid prescription. Behavioral health integration into the care team is another key aspect of the culture. Our findings, if confirmed in other settings, could be useful in planning organizational interventions and training. We anticipate that efforts to implement and spread these approaches may be effective in decreasing opioid overuse, promoting health equity by targeting CHCs with room for improvement, and informing the larger research goals: to inform practice change and opioid prescribing across Arizona CHCs.

ContributorsCheng, Esther (Author) / Doebbeling, Bradley (Thesis director) / Daniulaityte, Raminta (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2020-05