141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

291884
Engaging communities, providers, and academia to identify and address health service needs

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 9:30 AM - 9:50 AM

Steven Szydlowski, DHA, MBA, MHA , Health Administration and Human Resources, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA
Daniel West Jr., PhD , Health Administration and Human Resources, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA
The presentation provides results from a solution-based community needs assessment that resulted from a collaborative partnership with academic institutions, health care systems, health insurance company, community-based organizations, and citizens in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The mixed method approach resulted in over 1500 surveys completed and returned, focus groups, and interviews. Community health needs were identified and prioritized, hospital-level strategic initiatives executed, and community-based plans developed. The presenters will discuss the initial process of the collaborative planning in research input, design, and evaluation. Specific strategies for engaging citizens, physicians, business leaders, and other key stakeholders are discussed. The presenters explain how the results from the solution-based needs assessment were used to impact health status in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Strategies for engaging and sustaining a collaborative partnership are described. Additionally, the presentes will discuss the efforts this collaborative partnership made in better understanding and strategies to address an outmigration of care problem in Northeastern Pennsylvania effecting the economic forces and resources in the region. Perceptions from citizens and physicians in the region are also described. The presenters conclude with recommendations for sustaining academic/health/community partnerships, impact on public health in a region, and implications for health services planning and delivery.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related research
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Explain how a community-based consortium engages in solution-based approach to identify and address public health needs. Demonstrate the efficacy of using an academic/health provider/community partnership model to develop a regional plan for health promotion. Compare quantitative and qaulitative information from a 2012, 2009, 2004, and 1997 regarding changes in population health status in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Discuss a collaborative model used for community engagement in Northeastern Pennsylvania in a research planning and process, develop the research process and evaluation for a regional community health plan, and the approach used to evaluate success

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Public Health Education and Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract author on the content I am responsible for because I served as the lead liasion and director of the research presented. This is part of my research agenda.
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.