Odds and ends to cover up front
July 1, 1999
Odds and ends to cover up front
Don't forget these preliminary steps
While you may have all the components of a successful program based on a literature search, phone calls, site visits, and focus groups, there are a few other details that must be attended to before planning begins. Follow ing are a few tips from your colleagues on the loose ends that need to be tied up before proceeding:
• Obtain funding and support.
A proposal will need to be created to obtain program approval as well as funding. Informa tion gathered in the literature search often can be used to support a program's validity. It's a good idea when approaching administrators and physicians to have some best practices and abstracts, says Mary Szczepanik, BSN, program manager for cancer education, support and outreach at Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals in Columbus, OH.
"One of the first questions an administrator, and probably a physician, will ask is, 'has anyone ever done this before and do we know if it worked or not,'" adds Szczepanik.
• Identify health care trends.
To know if a program will work or not, it is a good idea to identify the current health care trends and the related patient education needs, says Patricia Mathews, RN, MHA, president of Mathews Associates, a patient education consulting firm in Chambersburg, PA. Investigate these trends to see what impact they would have on the program.
For example, there currently are trends toward informed consumers, complementary medicine, and ambulatory focus. "Those planning for patient education need to be proactive and not reactive related to health care trends," says Mathews.
• Find an instructor.
In today's health care climate, it is often difficult to find a program instructor. Therefore, it is a good idea to talk to administrators ahead of time about scheduling someone to teach the program, says Szczepanik.
• Check with appropriate organizations.
If a program involves other agencies, get them on board before creating the program, says Yvonne Brookes, RN, patient education liaison for Baptist Health Systems of South Florida in Miami. "If your program is geared toward schoolchildren, contact a couple of schools," she suggests.
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