263048 Enhancing performance and outcome evaluation capacity of school-based heath programs using an innovative web-based documentation system for school nurses and social workers: A demonstration of the San Francisco public school district's Daily Log

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

John P. Shields, PhD, MSW , Research Department, Education, Training & Research Associates (ETR), San Francisco, CA
Heather Franks, MA , Research Department, Education, Training & Research Associates (ETR), Scotts Valley, CA
Greg Thrush, MA , Research Department, Education, Training & Research Associates (ETR), Scotts Valley, CA
Kieren Jameson, MLIS , Information Technology Department, Education, Training & Research Associates (ETR), San Francisco, CA
Kelly Whitaker, MPA , Research Department & School of Social Welfare, Education, Training & Research Associates (ETR) & University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco, CA
Andi Hilinski, LCSW, PPSC , Student Support Services Department, San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, CA
     
Background. School nurses and social workers have not had access to high quality service documentation systems that support performance and outcome evaluation, undermining the sustainability of school-based health services. Purpose. To describe and demonstrate a secure online service documentation system for school-based health professionals that efficiently and accurately tracks services provided at the individual student level and connects service utilization data to essential educational outcome data. Methods. A series of focus groups with school-based health professionals and their clinical and administrative supervisors and managers provided information on the variables and functionalities they desired in addition to an established pool of funder-required variables. The Daily Log was built to connect with the school district's student information system to facilitate accurate identification of students. The Daily Log also captures systems-level work by school nurses and social workers - from grant management and staff meetings to health presentations. Results. Launched in 2012, the Daily Logs are currently being used by over one hundred health professionals serving a population of 58,000 students. The Daily Log provides a rich environment for the evaluation of program performance and outcomes. Results reveal the volume and diversity of school-based nurse and social worker services on behalf of students and the school community and demonstrate their impact on academic performance. Discussion. Efficient and effective web-based health service documentation systems can improve a school district's capacity to evaluate program performance and demonstrate links between health service utilization and educational performance (e.g., attendance, grades, standardized test scores, disciplinary actions).

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe core values that guide the development of effective online documentation systems for school-based health practitioners and their managers. 2. Identify essential documentation system behaviors and capacities that support efficient and accurate documentation of health services provided in elementary, middle, and high schools. 3. Demonstrate how effective service documentation systems enhance capacity to evaluate school-based health program performance and impact by linking key data across institutional silos.

Keywords: Health Information Systems, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have served as principal investigator and co-investigator on federally-funded research projects to evaluate school-based behavioral health programs and services for children exposed to domestic violence. For the past 13 years, I have led the implementation of many evaluation and survey administration projects focused on school- and community-based programs serving children and adolescents in partnership with local, state, and federal stakeholders. Among my scientific interests has been the leveraging of web technology to enhance evaluation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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