From the inside out: the engagement of physicians as leaders in health care settings

Health care delivery must be transformed to manage spiraling costs and preserve quality care. Transforming complex health systems will require the engagement of physicians as leaders in their health care settings, in both formal and informal roles. In this article we explore the experience of physician leader engagement and identify factors operating at the individual, team, and organizational levels related to increased or decreased physician leader engagement. Using an inductive approach, our analysis of the transcribed interviews yielded a rich understanding of what motivates physicians to be engaged as leaders, how they experience engagement, the role of the physician leader, how physicians understand other physicians' engagement, what encourages and discourages their engagement efforts, and the role that education and training has in physician engagement. We conclude by offering strategies that physicians, health care organizations, and educational institutions can implement to increase the engagement of physician leaders.     

King's College's Graduate Program in Health Care Administration helps to achieve community wellness: a case study

Graduate programs in health care administration can become catalysts in the community wellness initiatives that the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified as being critical to the improvement of public health among the U.S population. This paper examines the results of such a program at King's College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which developed community wellness programs through the establishment of a center for health promotion, assisted in the establishment of a city health department, developed a peer leader tobacco education program for elementary school students, and produced a 30-minute video on adolescent high-risk behavior. The program's goal is to facilitate coalition building among health agencies and to produce graduates equipped with administrative skills and a thorough knowledge of the value of well-developed community wellness programs. Healthy communities will require the emergence of leaders who can gather information about high-risk health behaviors and work with communities to implement solutions. Health care administration programs have a tremendous opportunity to become catalysts in the development and implementation of educational programs that may improve a community's overall health and reduce health care costs.     

秦岭山区洛南县生殖健康/计划生育服务需求调查

为了解我国贫困地区妇女生殖健康 /计划生育服务现状 ,找出影响妇女健康的不良因素 ,为开展干预工作提供决策依据 ,应用定性调查方法随机抽取陕西省洛南县县、乡卫生管理干部及服务提供者分别作为选题组 ;随机抽取 3个乡的已婚避孕妇女、未婚女青年分别为专题组。结果领导选题组认为“改变对生殖健康 /计划生育的认识 ,克服重行政干预 ,轻技术服务的作风”是最先要解决的问题 ;服务提供者认为“更新知识 ,提高技能”是最先要解决的问题 ;已婚避孕妇女组和未婚女青年组认为“提高保健服务质量 ,普及健康教育”是核心问题。据此作者认为 ,影响贫困地区妇女生殖健康的主要因素是妇女生殖保健知识缺乏和服务质量问题。     

Community health workers and integrated primary health care teams in the 21st century

Community health workers are an integral part of many healthcare systems. Their roles vary and include both the socially oriented tasks of natural helpers and specific constrained tasks of health extenders. As natural helpers, community health workers play an important role in connecting public and primary care to the communities that they serve. As primary health care becomes more patient-centered and community-oriented, the natural helper roles that include trust, rapport, understanding, and the ability to communicate with the community take on an increased significance. Community health workers are effective and make the health care system more efficient. In some states, the community health worker has become a more formal member of the integrated primary health care team, and it is in this role that she or he provides structured linkages between the community, the patient, and the health care system. The effective community health workers are strongly embedded in the communities that they serve; they have clear supervision within the health care system; they have clearly defined roles in the health care system; and they are well trained and have a defined system of advancing their education and roles within the health care system.     

The interaction of curriculum type and implementation method on 1-year smoking outcomes in a school-based prevention program

Studies have shown that the effectiveness of programs or curricula may depend in part on who delivers the material. In adolescent health education programs, peer leaders are often recruited to implement programs because they are more persuasive to other adolescents than adults. Teachers also systematically vary how groups are constructed in school-based health education programs. This study compared the effects of three leader and group selection methods within the context of two tobacco prevention programs. Eight schools received a social influences program (Chips) and eight received a program with a multicultural emphasis (Flavor). Within these 16 schools 84 classrooms consisting of 1486 students were randomly assigned to one of three leader and group creation conditions: (i) leaders defined as those who received the most nominations by students and groups created randomly (random group), (ii) same as (i) but groups created by assigning students to the leaders they nominated (network), and (iii) leaders and groups created by teachers (teacher). One year follow-up data showed that main effects of the curriculum and network assignments were non-significant on smoking initiation when entered alone. Interaction terms of curriculum and assignment methods, however, were significant such that the network and teacher conditions were less effective than the random group condition with Chips, and more effective than random group condition with Flavor. These data show that school-based prevention programs should be evaluated in light of who implements the program. Even a peer-led program will be differentially effective based on how leaders are selected and how groups are formed, and this effect may be curriculum dependent.     

Health care management according to Ben Franklin.

The evolution of health care management in the 20th century has been from physician/nurse to health administration generalist to management specialist to political leader. I foresee an increase in the number of physicians and nurses in institutional leadership positions; and the increasing concentration of health care resources in multi-institutional systems will facilitate career development in continuing education. The challenge to educational programs will be the synthesis of the health sciences and the management sciences. The health care CEO of the 1990s will learn to behave like a prime minister by the 21st century.     

Asthma Friendly Pharmacies: A Model to Improve Communication and Collaboration among Pharmacists,Patients, and Healthcare Providers

Pharmacists, with expertise in optimizing drug therapy outcomes, are valuable components of the healthcare team and are becoming increasingly involved in public health efforts. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in diverse community pharmacy settings can implement a variety of asthma interventions when they are brief, supported by appropriate tools, and integrated into the workflow. The Asthma Friendly Pharmacy (AFP) model addresses the challenges of providing patient-focused care in a community pharmacy setting by offering education to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on asthma-related pharmaceutical care services, such as identifying or resolving medication-related problems; educating patients about asthma and medication-related concepts; improving communication and strengthening relationships between pharmacists, patients, and other healthcare providers; and establishing higher expectations for the pharmacist’s role in patient care and public health efforts. This article describes the feasibility of the model in an urban community pharmacy setting and documents the interventions and communication activities promoted through the AFP model.     

Developing leaders vs training administrators in the health services.

In these difficult times, health care institutions need leaders, not simply managers. Leaders' breadth of skills and perspective come from understanding the values involved in health care delivery; managers know the right way to do things, but leaders know which are the right things to do. Schools of public health are moving away from their potential contribution to leadership development in health services administration. The result is a lack of accountability to the community. Leadership skills and an examination of values should be part of health services administration programs in schools of public health, which should see their mission as helping to identify and train leaders, not simply technical specialists in management.     

Developing Tomorrow's Integrated Community Health Systems: A Leadership Challenge for Public Health and Primary Care

As the nation's health system moves away from earlier models to one grounded in population health and market-based systems of care, new challenges arise for public health professionals, primary care practitioners, health plan and institutional managers, and community leaders. Among the challenges are the need to develop creative concepts of organization and accountability and to assure that dynamic, system-oriented structures support the new kind of leadership that is required. Developing tomorrow's integrated community health systems will challenge the leadership skills and integrative abilities of public health professionals, primary care practitioners, and managers. These leaders and their new organizations must, in turn, assume increased accountability for improving community health.     

Smoking Cessation Counseling Practices of Texas Pharmacists

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine pharmacists’ awareness and education about smoking cessation and their communication with patients about smoking cessation. A survey was mailed to East Texas pharmacists practicing in the areas of hospital or clinical, retail or community, managed care, consultant, or academic pharmacy. Outcome measurements included: measures of the awareness of the 5 A’s and 5 R’s of smoking cessation, training received in smoking cessation, and communication practices regarding smoking cessation. There were 320 respondents. Approximately 10% of the respondents indicated they had received tobacco cessation counseling education during their formal educational training, 36% during continuing education programs, and 9% during both formal training and continuing education. About 44% reported they had received no tobacco cessation counseling training. Among pharmacists surveyed, 5% responded that they usually or always ask their patients if they smoke cigarettes, pipe, or cigars, 43% reported they sometimes or half of the time ask, and 45% said they never ask. There is a clear relationship between pharmacists awareness and education of smoking cessation techniques and their communication with patients about them. Pharmacy education leaders must continue their movement to include public health in the pharmacy curricula to produce pharmacists who are prepared to better serve the community. This project was funded by a grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services.     

新医改背景下基层医院临床药师的培养与管理

基层医院配备临床药师是药学服务转变模式的需要,但此项工作开展不甚理想;为此建议：各级领导应对临床药学人才的培养引起重视,采取相应措施防止人才流失;同时药学人员要立足现有岗位学习成才,加快药学知识与临床知识的融合,与临床医师共同做好临床药学服务。     

Health care leadership in the public interest

Successful institutional leaders articulate a sense of organizational purpose and mission, and establish and maintain an organizational culture that fits with that purpose, while anticipating and responding to external and internal dynamics that will affect the organization's capacity to meet its role. In health care, the organizational purpose is necessarily directed to the broader community, and the dynamics that must be anticipated include not only technological and economic change, but also changes in public attitudes and expectations. In order for the institution to thrive over time, it must both be near the front of the curve of those changes while protecting and preserving excellence in its core activities. The key to effective leadership in health care organizations is effective two-way communication with internal constituencies, with the organization's communities, and with the broader public policy process. Health care leaders must take a more active role in responding to their communities' health needs and in shaping public policy toward health care.     

Mission in a time of transition. Mission leaders' unique skills can help CEOs prepare their organizations for integrated delivery

To get a perspective on how the mission role has evolved over the past few years, the Catholic Health Association surveyed a sample of mission leaders at Catholic acute care facilities throughout the United States. Most respondents (86 percent) were women religious, and the majority had advanced degrees in some area of religious studies. They indicated that an ideal education for a mission leader would include preparation in theology, ethics, or spirituality, as well as business or healthcare administration. The majority of mission leaders answering the survey ranked themselves high in their ability to influence their organization's chief executive officer. They consistently identified their key role as integrating values and mission into the daily life of the organization. The majority of respondents (95 percent) said they were responsible for mission in acute care. Other important areas of responsibility included home care, hospice, long-term care, and outpatient care. Most respondents reported extensive involvement with the ethics function at their facilities, and they also had an active and vital role in continuous quality improvement efforts. Mission leaders felt their skills uniquely qualify them to assist organizations making the transition to integrated delivery. Their experience in collaboration, communication, and team building can be crucially important as organizations adjust to the demands of a new delivery system.     

The leadership and executive potential of physicians in an era of managed care systems

The emergence of managed care signals a need for an expanded role for physicians. Physician executives, trained in management, have the potential to become champions of clinical integrity, negotiators with patient agent organizations, public interpreters of hospital performance data, consultants to the profession, and designers of health care systems. Nonclinically trained administrators have been slow to recognize the unique skills and perspective that physicians bring to the managerial suite. The clash of professional and managerial cultures has often been perceived as precluding a strong working alliance between physician and nonphysician executives. As hospital margins are threatened, decision protocols must not be designed to incorporate teams of leaders who are able to overcome the managerial/clinical divide. The management of this interface will demand the attention of both administration and boards and may require the establishment of new structures in health care organizations.     

The demand for graduate education in health services administration: a case study

This article documents research into the demand for graduate education in health services administration/management with a case study model. Research included background information on the profession, the history of graduate education in health services administration, health care administrator demographics and their perceptions of the demand for graduate-prepared professionals and their own educational needs, most appropriate degree to offer, and curriculum content. The findings support the trend toward a balance between specific and general health care business skills in graduate education. Other schools may benefit from the student profile, program delivery, appropriate degree information, and curriculum content findings as well as the research instrument design and methodology when assessing and planning graduate programs in health services administration/management.     

Community health workers can be a public health force for change in the United States: three actions for a new paradigm

Community health workers (CHWs) have gained increased visibility in the United States. We discuss how to strengthen the roles of CHWs to enable them to become collaborative leaders in dramatically changing health care from "sickness care" systems to systems that provide comprehensive care for individuals and families and supports community and tribal wellness. We recommend drawing on the full spectrum of CHWs' roles so that they can make optimal contributions to health systems and the building of community capacity for health and wellness. We also urge that CHWs be integrated into "community health teams" as part of "medical homes" and that evaluation frameworks be improved to better measure community wellness and systems change.     

社区卫生技术人员知识与技能需求及影响因素分析

通过对社区卫生服务站社区卫生技术人员知识与技能需求调查分析 ,表明社区卫生技术人员知识与技能不能满足城市居民日益增长的医疗保健需求 ,大部分社区卫生知识与技能的掌握程度一般 ,急需培训的课程主要是预防保健专业知识 ,急需提高的社区卫生服务技能主要是社区康复技能、急诊社区处理、心理学、社会医学、预防医学、健康教育、流行病学方法等。社区卫生知识与技能的掌握程度与培训需要有关。本次调查为社区卫生服务人员继续教育提供了参考依据     

AIDS: an update

In sub-Saharan Africa, where the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic threatens to undermine the social and economic structure of society, there has been insufficient attention to health care demand, supply, and quality issues. Most of those currently infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) will register their demand for increased health services within the next six years. A study of medical insurance claims in Zimbabwe indicated that the claims of HIV-infected persons in the last 7-15 months of their lives were 700% higher than the average claim for the same age group. Absenteeism by HIV-infected health care workers is affecting the quality of care in hospitals, and countries that provide sickness benefits for public sector workers face the double drain of financing these benefits and paying for replacement staff. Emerging evidence suggests that HIV screening and counseling is not an effective intervention in this culture. Pregnant Kenyan women screened for HIV tended not to want the results, failed to inform their partner of a positive result, or were subjected to violence and abandonment when they did inform their husbands. Most effective, in this region, have been programs aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Other recommendations include decentralization of care to district health systems where costs are lower, increased support for home-based care, AIDS education for traditional healers, and informational campaigns to counter discrimination against HIV-infected community members.     

Hospital and community health: going from stakeholder management to stakeholder collaboration

Leaders of hospitals and other health service organizations often use stakeholder management capabilities to analyze, understand, and transact business with their stakeholders in order to achieve organizational goals. When these leaders and their organizations become involved in community health improvement, they have new and different types of stakeholders than for traditional medical care. In the community health domain, these leaders should modify their approach toward stakeholders so that they collaborate with stakeholders rather than try to manage them. Recommendations for how to do this include giving up some control, building trusting relationships, and emphasizing community goals.