Presenters
- Alex Melkonian, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
Summary
Given the complex demands of integrated behavioral health care, initiating quality improvement and program evaluation projects can be challenging. However, by leveraging evidence-based practices and planful clinical documentation, the barriers to engaging in program evaluation can be lowered. For example, routine outcomes monitoring is an important part of evidence-based practice, and providing feedback to patients can result in improved functional outcomes. However, research suggests that despite recognizing their benefit, many clinicians do not use outcome measures regularly. This presentation will review how behavioral health consultants (BHCs) working in integrated primary care settings can implement ongoing clinical data collection into standard practice and convert existing data into the foundation for program evaluation. We will also discuss how BHCs can apply principles of routine outcome monitoring (i.e., data collection and feedback) to drive interdisciplinary collaboration and warm handoffs. First, this presentation will discuss how outcomes monitoring and basic clinical data collection can be integrated into routine clinical practice. Attendees will be provided with examples of brief measures of functioning and quality of life that can be built into clinical service. Next, attendees will participate in a focused training on how these data can be used to improve their service and drive increased collaboration through case examples and facilitated discussion. Using the theoretical framework of routine outcomes monitoring, attendees will have the opportunity to engage in targeted exercises to develop a working plan they can bring to their own practice, focused on identifying specific team-based behaviors they would wish to monitor and encourage. We will also review specific strategies and tools for converting clinical charting and outcomes data into visually engaging and practical diagrams to improve team-based collaboration through feedback. Attendees will be engaged through brief focused didactic content, handout-led discussion, and small group workshop exercises to apply concepts, led by and designed for BHC’s to bring to their own clinical settings. Attendees will leave this presentation with increased knowledge, practical skills, and specific tools to increase and streamline the connection of their clinical workflow with quality improvement and program evaluation aims.
Objectives
- Describe routine outcomes monitoring and strategies for implementing into standard clinical practice
- Identify strategies for connecting existing clinical data to quality improvement aims
- Implement program development aims of their own clinic and utilize handouts provided to develop targeted quality improvement projects