Heather Adams, Director of Training & Education

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of facilitating a half-day meeting at Optimus Health Care to identify the root causes for patients having uncontrolled diabetes.

Twenty-two Optimus employees attended, including executive leadership, nurses, clinicians, community health workers, and quality improvement staff.

We know that addressing social determinants of health like transportation, literacy, and access to medication can improve patients’ health; health center workflow and other processes can also be critical to helping patients get and keep their diabetes under control.

Multidisciplinary teams worked together to identify how Optimus can help support patients in controlling diabetes. Some of the processes identified were enhancing the patient experience during a visit and supporting the clinical teams in their documentation of diabetes care.

The goal of the training was to ensure that Optimus is collaborating at all levels of the organization and is prepared for its upcoming HRSA site visit, by identifying what may be needed by the patients to better manage their disease. The staff in attendance had the opportunity to share their opinions about which issues to prioritize to improve diabetes control – and to advocate for Optimus to make both small and big scale changes to enhance their health care processes and outcomes.

These trainings also help health center staff remain engaged and motivated to be part of a team providing the best possible health care in the country! CHCACT is pleased to provide these trainings to our health centers.

For more information, reach out!

- Heather