Chronic Disease: Implementing Evidence-Based Patient Self-management Programs

Purpose: While many patient self-management (PSM) programs have been developed and evaluated for effectiveness, less effort has been devoted to translating and systematically delivering PSM in primary and specialty care. The purpose of this presentation is to review delivery system design considerations for implementing self-management programs into practice.
Methods: A focus group was held considering the topic of PSM implementation at the (VHA) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative meeting held in December 2008. Three presenters discussed their PSM implementation work for hypertension and stroke self management. The attendees were invited to apply their research and translation experiences for the workshop to identify area for future research and effective implementation strategies. Discussion notes were recorded and analyzed for themes using content analysis.
Results: Themes identified during the workshop included: Implementation Methods, Delivery Formats, Targeted Recipients, Facilitators of PSM, Support Tools, and Comparison of VA to other Integrated Healthcare Systems (e.g., Kaiser Permanente).

Implications: Research efforts are needed to identify effective delivery formats for PSM programs that will increase patient access, facilitating PSM, and incorporating support tools. Redesigning the system to deliver and support PSM will be important as implementation researchers collaborate with key stakeholders to translate evidence based PSM practices into routine care and evaluate its impact on health-related quality of life of veterans living with chronic disease.