MICH E-NEWS
September 2010 Edition
Summer, 2010 - Issue 4
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SAVE THE DATE!
| The annual MICH meeting will be September 23-24, 2010.
Two timely topics:
1) Using QI for Improving Health OUtcomes
2) National Accreditation and MICH: How Will We Work Together?
Guest speaker will be William Riley, PhD, Associate Dean, University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Chairman, PHAB Board
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 Greetings
from the Ozarks! Lately, kayak travel is looking like a viable means of transportation. Like our ever changing climate, the landscape of
Public Health continues to demand greater maneuverability on our part. However,
through our combined efforts with organizations like the Missouri Institute of
Community Health (MICH) we will continue to seek solutions to weather the
storms. We could build a VERY LARGE kayak. At least no one can say that Public Health is boring!
Missouri, like the majority
of other states, is losing a significant number of its senior Public Health Professionals to retirement. Constant restructuring, a changing new
workforce and budget cuts are forcing agencies to do their business a different
way. Gone are the days of closing down the agency, and everyone going to training. Work related travel has become a major issue. As a result, local public health agency staff are now turning to on-line training to update
their skills. Learning Quality Improvement (QI)
principles is no different. MICH is providing technical assistance on QI to 12
rural local
health departments where time and distance were
barriers to the success of the project. MICH started doing monthly
webinars, but more was needed to help with the institutionalization of QI into
the cultures of the agencies. So MICH began a project with the St. Louis University School of Public Health to develop QI training modules to assist
local health departments, and other health professionals, to address the time
and distance issue. We encourage you to take advantage of this valuable resource. For any
additional questions, please give MICH a call or drop an e-mail. MICH also continues to work with the National Public Health
Accreditation Board (PHAB) to determine our role in the National Accreditation
process. The MICH Executive Committee has met with a PHAB representative
to begin discussions concerning a partnership between MICH and PHAB. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about investing in some kayak stock. Until next
time, I wish you all well. 
Dalen DuitsmanPresidentBoard of Directors |
MICH working with the Heartland Centers to bring Quality Improvement training to your desktop
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 St. Louis University School of Public Health, Heartland Center for Public Health and Community Capacity Development (Heartland) offered to partner with MICH to develop a quality improvement learning module for Heartland's on-line Learning Management System as one way to help address institutionalization. The Kansas Health Department contributed a video about a regional quality improvement project, and Oklahoma Department of Health provided information about performance management. The audience is the beginning public health worker or anyone wanting a refresher course in quality improvement.
The goals are to introduce quality improvement tools and demonstrate how the principles of quality improvement are part of performance management, or in other words, little qi and Big QI. There are six segments:
1. An Introduction to Performance Management; 2. Quality Improvement Plan Components; 3. Quality Improvement 101 (focusing on the voice of the customer and basic tools to use in the workplace); 4. The Role of Evaluation in Big QI; 5. Balanced Scorecard and Agency Accountability; and 6. Accreditation and Institutionalizing Quality Improvement.
We encourage you to take advantage of this valuable resource. For any additonal questions, please give MICH a call or drop us an e-mail.
To enroll click here |
Public
Health Partners: Your One Stop for Public Health Information
By Barb Jones, MLS
| Public Health Partners or Partners in Information Access for
the Public Health Workforce (http://phpartners.org)is a website resource
that all public health workers should get to know. Formed by a collaboration of twelve major U.S.
government agencies, public health organizations and health science libraries,
it contains the content of all twelve organizations relating to public health
information.
Looking at the website, the content can be sorted by Public
Health Topic Pages or Main Topic Pages. Public Health Topics include subjects such as Bioterrorism, Nutrition,
HIV/Aids and Workforce Development. Main
Topics sort content into areas such as Health Promotion and Health Education,
Health Data Tools and Statistics, Grants and Funding and Legislation and
Policy. Thus a user can focus an
information search on one topic through all twelve organizations. There is a search box on the site, but it
does not search through the content of all the partners' information. Using the Topics Pages is the only way to
really see the content of the site. Other features of this website include links
to current health news articles, Healthy People 2010, a Public Health
Information and Data Tutorial, a Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness
and links to information on oil spills.
Because this website contains a vast quantity of
information, the user should plan to spend some time exploring and learning how
to find needed material. For those
interested in a training on the use of Public Health Partners, please contact
Barb Jones, Missouri Liaison for the National Network of Medicine (jonesbarb@health.missouri.edu
or 573-884-5042). Trainings are free and
can be scheduled at your convenience.
Barbara Jones, MLS
Missouri/Library Advocacy Liaison
J Otto Lottes Health Science Library
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65212
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Missouri Public Health Practice Based Research Network
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The Missouri Public Health Practice Based Research
Network met for the first time on August 3, 2010 by discussing three important
topics:
How have sifting
policy and financial priorities affected the performance of public heath
systems? What priorities will
public health systems have in the next 5 to 10 years? What opportunities
exist for public health systems to successfully move toward new priorities
and mandates?
Representatives from the National Network of
Libraries of Medicine, Missouri State University, Washington University,
University of Missouri, Truman State University, Southeast Missouri State
University, St. Louis University, the Missouri Department of Health &
Senior Services, Reynolds County Health Center, Douglas County Health
Department, Columbia-Boone County Department of Public Health & Human
Services, and Triana Consulting, LLC met with the staff from the Missouri Institute
for Community Health who sponsored the kick-off meeting.
After a lively discussion, two priority issues have
emerged to guide the Missouri PBRN in the coming years:
1. Develop a classification of 114 counties
using natural history; look at performance, governance, funding, etc. What elements lead to higher
performance? Of those counties that have
been accredited, has accreditation made an impact on health outcomes or
disparities?
2. Regionalization - how are counties organized?
Study the different structures; provide incentives to illustrate different
models. Look at communication and how it
occurs in different regions. Document/evaluate Region G structure and effectiveness.
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Web 2. What??? Cracking the Code on the Latest Trends and Tools
from Spitfire Communications | Social Networking Sites and Online Fundraising: Do They Mix?
When
nonprofits began harnessing the power of social media to engage
supporters, attract members and raise funds, there was little existing
baseline data and many wished they had a crystal ball to predict whether
efforts like online contests would be worth their time and resources.
Contest campaigns like America's Giving Challenge
have blazed the trail to measure success and capture best practices and
other lessons learned. In the month-long Challenge organized by the Case Foundation, Facebook Causes and PARADE Publications,
participants competed for $245,000 in daily and overall awards. Causes
that received the highest number of unique daily donations received the
funds.
Social media bloggers and authors Beth Kanter and Allison Fine evaluated the 2009 Challenge in an Assessment and Reflection Report, which pulls out best practices and case studies to guide future challenge participants. Research highlights include: More than 82,000 individual donors made 105,000 donations to nearly 8,000 causes with an average gift of $17.73; Personal
connections, compelling use of videos and storytelling, and repeatedly
thanking donors for supporting causes proved to be important elements
for success; and 40 percent of the beneficiary organizations
were over 10 years old, reflecting the increased comfort level that all
nonprofit organizations now have with social media. For more tips on how to plan a successful campaign, check out Spitfire's Just Enough Planning Guide tool.
by Maura Zehr - Junior Account Executive, Spitfire Strategies, 1800 M Street, NW, Suite 300 North, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-6200, www.SpitfireStrategies.com.
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 Word on the Street
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Excerpt from the latest PHAB E-Letter::
1. A significant amount of time and thought is being invested in the Beta Test and PHAB is receiving a huge amount of feedback. Will there be sufficient time to consider this feedback and its impact on the standards, measures, and accreditation process before the national launch of public health accreditation? Yes. The PHAB Board of Directors has developed plans to take adequate time to digest all of the evaluation materials, Think Tank report recommendations, and general feedback in order to finalize the formal accreditation materials. The launch is planned for late summer/early fall 2011 just for that reason. While we understand that PHAB will have its own quality improvement plan related to keeping the accreditation process practice relevant and evidenced base, we intend that the launch will be as "right" as we can possibly get it. Feedback from the Beta Test sites, the site visitors, and all of the volunteers who have worked on Think Tank deliberations and who have provided individual feedback through the website is critical to this effort. We understand that future applicants are getting ready to apply as soon as they can. We appreciate their patience as we put the finishing touches on the requirements. 2. We are still confused about the pre-requisites. While we know what they are, we want to make sure that the processes we have chosen to get them completed will meet PHAB's expectations. Can you please give us some additional guidance? PHAB is working on guidance materials for the website that should help future applicants with these questions. We have heard your questions, and we are working with our partners to prepare guidance that will address your questions in more detail. We expect that information to be posted on the website by early fall 2010. Look for more details about where to find it in the next e-newsletter!
If you have a suggestion for future segments of "Word on the Street" please send them to Donna Davis, PHAB's Director of Public and Constituent Relations, at ddavis@phaboard.org. For more information go to the PHAB website
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REMINDER: Register for the public health conference "A Healthier Missouri, One Community at a Time" on September 23 - 24, 2010. MICH is co-sponsoring a joint public health conference with the Missouri Public Health Association, Missouri Association of Local Public Health Agencies, and the Council for Public Health Nursing. Come and hear about the public health crisis in Haiti, an overview of the Affordable Care Act, community based obesity programs, and how to use quality improvement to improve health outcomes. Breakout sessions range from dealing with the "new poor", signs of suicide, how to use GIS, cultural competency to personnel issues and who should address them. There are timely public health topics of interest to everyone at this conference. See you there! To register, click here
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We hope you enjoy our newsletter. If you would like to contribute to our newsletter, please contact me at janet@michweb.org.
Sincerely,
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Janet Canavese
Missouri Institute for Community Health
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