142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

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Education Materials on Multiple Chronic Conditions for the Healthcare Workforce: What Exists and What is Needed?

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Jessica Levin, BA , Public Health and Epidemiology, Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA
Lisa LeRoy, PhD, MBA , U.S. Health Division, Public Health and Epidemiology, Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA
Sarah J. Shoemaker, PharmD, PhD , Health Policy, Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA
Judith Schaefer, MPH , MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation, Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA
Joanna Lopez, BA , Public Health and Epidemiology, Abt Associates, Bethesda, MD
Alicia Richmond Scott, MSW , Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD
Jessie Gerteis, MPH , Public Health and Epidemiology, Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA
Background: The U.S. health care system is based on single disease research and training, and is ill-prepared to provide care for 171 million Americans expected to have multiple chronic conditions (MCC) by 2030. Interprofessional education and practice is a promising approach to overcome the limitations of single disease focused education of the healthcare workforce.  The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health is evaluating healthcare workforce education and training materials that address MCC.  

Methodology: An environmental scan identified existing training resources across the education spectrum (undergraduate through continuing education) for medicine, nursing, social work, pharmacy and health navigators. Methods included review of peer-reviewed and gray literature searches of academic and accreditation body websites, and interviews with 25 expert stakeholders.  Data sources were analyzed for MCC-specific training materials, recommended curricula and competencies, and gaps in health profession training on complex patients.

Results: The few MCC-specific training materials are concentrated in nursing and medicine.  However, other curricula focus on MCC-related competencies such as care coordination, self-management, care transitions, and patient/family engagement. Stakeholders identified interprofesional or team-based care, effective communication and motivational interviewing, and trust as key skills needed to deliver high-quality care to persons with MCC.

Conclusion/Discussion: The evaluation offers guidance on the curricula and competency needs of the workforce to effectively care for people with MCC. A shift from profession-specific to interprofessional training and from fact-based to transformative behavior-changing learning are two areas that should be incorporated into healthcare curricula to improve care and outcomes for persons with MCC.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Assess existing curricula and training materials that address multiple chronic conditions; Describe domains and key competencies or skills needed to care for patients with multiple chronic conditions; and Identify preliminary gaps in healthcare professional curriculum and training

Keyword(s): Curricula, Chronic Disease Management and Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I helped design the environmental scan, and assisted with the overall methodology for the OASH MCC Workforce project. I recently worked on a large federal contract focusing on multiple chronic conditions with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
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.