Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation
Building provincial mental health capacity in primary care of rural Ontario, Canada.
Description
An initiative of Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO) uses virtual education to enhance the primary care provider’s mental health capacity. The project has the ultimate objective of solving the perpetual challenge of urban-rural disparities in access to specialist care (Sockalingam et al., 2017). Subsequently, to monitor the effectiveness of the project, evaluators scrutinized a mental health and addiction-oriented ECHO program in Ontario, Canada, at the end of the program.
How was the success of the program or policy measured?
Evaluation is essential to establish the program’s effectiveness in producing desired results. Therefore, the mental health and addiction ECHO program relied on certain indicators of program success, such as primary care providers refined knowledge of mental health or addiction. Additionally, the evaluation conducted measurements on primary care providers’ perceived self-efficacy, active engagement in the virtual education program, satisfaction, and competencies in the management of mental health disorders.
How many people were reached by the program or policy selected?
The program’s effectiveness is a product of information from the program participants. Therefore, the program recruited 131 participants comprising family physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, nurses, and counselors from 26 spoke sites to engage in virtual medical education. Consequently, the program recorded an average of 4 out of 5 scale program satisfaction rate, indicating that the participants were satisfied with the program. Additionally, the program noted significant improvement in participants’ ability to manage patients, attention to screening patients for mental health disorders, enhanced knowledge of mental health disorders, and inter-professional collaboration following the educational intervention. Moreover, the perceived self-efficacy among the participants was higher in the post-intervention than pre-intervention assessment.
What data was used to conduct the program or policy evaluation?
The program evaluation relied on qualitative information questionnaires administered to the participants at the end of the educational intervention. Additionally, pre-intervention knowledge assessment and weekly satisfaction surveys provided vital data for the program evaluation.
What was specific information on unintended consequences identified?
It is a common phenomenon that programs may yield undesired results. However, the ECHO mental health and addiction program did not yield adverse health or financial consequences.
What stakeholders were identified in the evaluation of the program or policy?
The critical stakeholders of the program evaluation involved the participants, who included nurses, nurse practitioners, family physicians, counselors, and social workers. Moreover, mental health specialists such as psychiatrists and counselors from the University of Toronto conducted the educational intervention consistent with the program plan. Therefore, the reporting of the program evaluation outcomes would be beneficial to the rural Canadian population on account of enhanced primary care providers’ capacity for mental health to deliver comprehensive patient care (Sockalingam et al., 2017).
Did the program or policy meet the original intent and objectives?
The program achieved tremendous success in building the human resource capacity for healthcare. The outcomes indicated that family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors demonstrated enhanced knowledge and competence in screening and management of mental health and addiction disorders (Sockalingam et al., 2017). Therefore, the program achieved its overall objective of refining populations’ access to mental health services to bridge the gap of inadequate specialist mental healthcare.
Would you recommend implementing this program or policy in your place of work?
I would recommend the implementation of the program in my place of work. (Fukada (2018) indicated the effectiveness of educational interventions for continuous professional development in enhancing nursing competencies. Therefore, I would recommend the program execution in my workplace to refine our knowledge and skills in the management of mental health disorders.
How could a nurse advocate become involved in evaluating a program or policy after one year of implementation?
Nursing advocacy is essential to ensure high-quality and safe patient care. Therefore, as a nurse advocate, I would conduct an assessment of patients’ clinical outcomes as a response to program implementation consistent with the nurse’s role in evidence-based practice (Leming-Lee & Watters, 2019). Moreover, I would assess whether the program has enhanced my skills or knowledge and efficiency in providing high-quality nursing care.
General Notes and Comments
Healthcare programs complement biomedical research in increasing the body of knowledge in clinical practice for evidence-based care. Therefore, the educational intervention in the ECHO project is instrumental in ensuring primary care providers have the requisite capacity to manage various health challenges, including mental health disorders.
References
Fukada, M. (2018). Nursing competency: Definition, structure and development.Yonago Acta Medica, 61(1), 001-007. Web.
Leming-Lee, T., & Watters, R. (2019). Translation of evidence-based practice: quality improvement and patient safety.The Nursing Clinics of North America, 54(1), 1–20. Web.
Sockalingam, S., Arena, A., Serhal, E., Mohri, L., Alloo, J., & Crawford, A. (2018). Building provincial mental health capacity in primary care: an evaluation of a project ECHO mental health program.Academic Psychiatry, 42(4), 451-457. Web.