Saturday, November 1, 2003

This presentation is part of : Addressing One Southwest Georgia Community's 'Silent Anguish'...Integrating Strategic Planning, Research, and Education to Impact EOL Care practices.

Albany-Dougherty Critical Conditions' Collaborative to Improve End-of-Life Care...A Strategic Planning Approach for Strengthening End-of-Life Partnership Initiatives

J. Paul Newell, MD, Southwest Health District, Southwest Health District, State of Georgia/Division of Public Health, Albany, GA, USA

This presentation will report on the ways in which an iterative strategic planning process for an EOL collaborative can help stakeholders to persist and maintain direction. The strategic approach has generally been a traditional one with some modifications that accomodate to the realty that participants of a small voluntary entity have marked limitations on the time available for such a process and are seeking practical outcomes. The history of the collaborative will be reviewed, and the rationale and content of the initial strategic plan will be outlined; its impact and effectiveness will be described; and changes to the plan, which are grounded in the outcomes, will be noted.

The initial strategic plan recognized the need for baseline research providing data to drive future strategies and activities of the collaborative. At the same time, it was recognized that the research outcomes would demand changes in the plan itself. Actions as a result of the study findings will be noted.

Strategic planning has limited value until it is operationalized. The ways in which this plan has been "kept alive" will be described. Though many of the specifics of the initial plan were, in retrospect, well beyond the capacity of the collaborative in the immediate post-planning period, it has functioned to set expectations of stakeholders and provide continuity through some difficult times.

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