PCDC in Action: Essentials of Care Management
Last month, the Primary Care Development Corporation’s (PCDC) Performance Improvement team held its inaugural session of the National Training Institute, which features curricula that PCDC experts have refined and taught to thousands.
The Essentials of Care Management course is a two-day deep dive into the principles of care coordination, the social determinants of health, motivational interviewing, and more. The training drew 15 community health care workers and managers, nurses, social workers, and medical providers from eight organizations.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures that impact every aspect of a patient’s life and well-being. SDOH include but are not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, food and housing insecurity, unreliable transportation access, and education disparities.
The Essentials of Care Management course highlighted the many ways SDOH impact not just quality of life, but health outcomes. Participants were especially interested in how SDOH exacerbate societal inequalities, and how this in turn negatively affects health care and behavioral health accessibility.
Through robust discussions and a mix of learning methods, the course prepares participants to immediately implement their new understanding of SDOH and care management into their daily work.
PCDC’s Training and Curriculum Development Specialists Yael S. Lipton, MPH, MCHES, and Sarahjane Rath, MPH, CHES
“PCDC’s curricula and trainings are informed by adult learning techniques, state-of-the-science research data, and lived experience,” said Rath. “Many of our team members have clinical backgrounds, and this firsthand knowledge allows us to not only build useful trainings, but to empathize with our participants’ day-to-day challenges.
“This personal knowledge, combined with diverse staff experiences, allows PCDC to fully customize any of our trainings or other offerings. We are always ready to meet participants where they’re at, even when that means changing course or developing a new program.”
Participants submitted anonymous feedback after completing the training. All participants reported feeling more connected to best practices for care management and likely to use the concepts in their daily work. Most also noted feeling confident, empowered, and bolstered by their newly acquired skills and abilities.