Objective: The Florida Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Program office identified an opportunity for improvement in the case management of women in the program. Through CDC grant funding, a two-day workshop was developed to enhance the skills and improve the effectiveness of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program case managers. The intended outcomes are an increased number of women screened, more women completing the full amount of screening available, and women with abnormal results be referred for diagnostic follow-up within the program-mandated time frames. The involvement of CNSs in workshop development, implementation, and evaluation provided an excellent opportunity for utilizing their skills in a nontraditional way.
Design/Method: Quasi-experimental descriptive design using parametric and non-parametric statistical measures to evaluate the impact of the workshop by using programmatic outcome measures that are directly linked to funding provides another perspective from which the CNS can measure effectiveness.
Population/Sample/Setting: The population utilized was the Florida Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Program participant database between October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2000, containing data specific to number of women screened, screening completion, and abnormal result follow up.
Findings/Conclusions: The results of the study showed an overall positive impact upon the indicators evaluated. There was an increase in the number of African-American women completing all 3 screening procedures during the post-workshop period, a decrease in the ratio of white women to black women completing all 3 procedures, and a decrease in the number of days between an abnormal clinical breast exam/mammogram and final diagnosis.
Implications: The implications for practice gained from this project are a) expanding the role of nursing in case management, b) the expansion of the CNS role and value of the CNS in the case management arena, and c) utilization of an unique evaluation approach using programmatic indicators.
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