An Academic-Community Collaborative for Outcomes Management to Address Health Disparities

Bicknell, Patricia

Saturday, 16 November 2013: 3:55 PM

Patricia Bicknell, EdD, APRN, ACNS-BC, CNL
School of Nursing and Health Science, La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to recognize the mutual benefit of academic-community partnerships in health care.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to appraise the development, and evaluation of outcomes management strategies to impact health disparities.

There are nearly 12 million cancer survivors in the United States, and 2.4 million of those are women diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. A substantial racial gap in detection and survival still remains. This disparity is attributed to both later stage at detection, and poorer stage-specific survival among African American women. Women of Faith and Hope (WOFAH), is a breast cancer community outreach program working to change these statistics, especially for African-American women. Directing program planning, evaluation and outcomes management presents challenges in both time and expertise for small, non-profit organizations such as WOFAH. These challenges threaten both the opportunity to understand the impact of the care, and to acquire adequate funding. This presentation describes the process of, and findings from, an academic and community partnership focused on comprehensive program planning and evaluation. Logic models are used for outcomes development, assessment, and monitoring. This project was undertaken to address the health disparities in the screening and care of African American breast cancer patients, and those at risk, in an urban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania community. Since 2009, this collaboration has included community members, a nurse faculty partner and graduate nursing students working together to implement an evidence-based model for operation. The collaborative projects to develop and measure outcomes from WOFAH’s program initiatives have spanned three years and have accomplished the following:

Developed a program evaluation plan using logic model methodology
Identified measurable outcomes from program goals currently in place
Measured outcomes to determine program quality and effectiveness
Conducted an IRB approved quality of life study
Provided evidence-based literature reviews and staff education
Worked with other University departments whose expertise in business and digital technologies helped to market and promote the program

The sustained and mutual benefits have been rewarding.

See more of: Measurement Outcomes for Minority Populations
See more of: Oral Paper & Poster: Evidence-Based Practice Sessions