I I I I I * A R E A iuinute ne August 23, vol.4 no. 11 MS AREA @-V CALIFORNIA REGIONAL MEDICAL PROGRA QUALITY OF CARE.* is being studied by a special task force of AREA V staff and members of the Pro- fessional Advisory Group who have been assigned to develop a'working defini- .tion of quality of care which will delineate the boundaries within which further study can take place. A preliminary statement regarding the role of AREA V in promoting quality of care, drafted by John S. Lloyd, PhD and David Odell, and presented to the Professional Ad'visory Group in May, suggested: "The aim of AREA V should be to increase the use of quality control of medical care by providers through- out the area. The means by which this should be achieved is through develop- ment of technical expertise on the part of program staff and Professional Ad- visory Group members, and by offering consultation and technical assistance to providers who wish- to develop or improve the qual i ty control of medical care delivered in their settings." The document suggests that after quality care has been defined, a survey of literature be made to identify va@ious standards, methods, and procedures which fo f@ rrent work in progre ' withi have been,developed,' Ilowed by a survey a cu Ss n the.boundaries of the, definition agreed upon. The results of these surveys would be kept.on file by AREA V and the extent of application of quality control of medical core in the Area would then be assessed. This data, once analyzed, would, provide, p picture of the extent to which quality control mechanisms are currently 'applied to AREA V and would itso serve'a.@ a baseline against which to compare the extent of application' in later years.' ..At that -poi.nt, acc6idi n@ to Dr. Lloyd and Mr. Odell, AREA V would be in&'.'-. position 'to begin off@eing various forms of technical assistance in the develop@; ment and application' of q'uali@ control mechanisms to those provid6rs'who@e'@- quest it. Assistance could. be'in the form of direct consultation, seminars with selected groups, or in the form of a referral to one or more of the resources trnnfintitzrinn nocie 2) identified earlier. The knowledge and information gained could, of course, be shared with other Areas of the California Region and other RMP'S. Dr. Lloyd reports that the task force has elected to carry out the literature search prior to reaching a definition of quality of care and that this step has been com-,--, pleted. Although a definiti@on'of 'quality Of care has not yet been agreed upon there have been some interesting issues raised. For example, it was suggested that a definition of quality of care include those who do not enter the system, as well as those who do. Further, it was proposed that whatever activities are carried out in AREA V with regard to quality of care, consumers should be as much a target of the results as providers, and the definition of quality of care should be as applicable to community groups as to providers of care. Appointed to the task force are: David Odell, (Chairman) Special Advisor, Health Care Administration; Lee Cady, MD (@pecial Advisor, Systems and Com- puters); Jose Carlos (Special Advisor, Health Needs of the Under Served); Dr. Barbara So omon Special Advisor, Social Workers),; Hen!y B. Dunlop (Special Advisor, Hospital Administration); George C. Griffit@, MD (Special Advisor, Cardiac); Jane Z. Cohen (AREA,V staff member who is working with the Southern California Council of Fre-e Clinics on their study of quality of care); and John S. @o d. who is staffing the committee. NEW DC REVIEW PANEL IN ACTION Proposals for the current cycle of developmental component funding were reviewed on August 22 by the newly appointed AREA V DC Review Panel which has, under- taken to pe@fon-n this task for a year (three cycles). Bertel I W. Ferguson,'@bDS, ch parallels t 61 D C Re@'i Po I was elected chairman of the group whi he Region ew ne The Panel is composed of three members of the AREA V.Adviso Council: Sol ry Bernstein, MD.; Bertell W. Ferguson, DDS,- and Lillian O'Brien, RN. Three members of the -Professi;;;l Advisory Group: St7onley Gunstream, PhD; George C. Griffith, MD; and Dr. Barbara Solomon, ACSW--and two staff members-- Dorothy E. Anderson, MPH, and Teresi to P. Moreno AC SW. John S. Liff d, PhD \4i@l staff the committee. T@e three proposals that were reviewed were: "Aide to LVN Program; Nursing Career Ladder Linkage. " "Training Program for Medical Social Work in Acute Hospitals." "Los Angeles Free Clinic: Utiliza- tion of Retired Medical Professionals." The committee will report its recommen- dations to the AREA V Advisory Council at its next Meeting. 2 HERE @,ND THERE USC School of Medicine is one of 38 medical schools chosen by the Bureau of Health Manpower Education at NIH to submit proposals for an Area Health Edu.- cation Center contract. The BHME has $11 million to spend on AHEC's before the end of September, and will have at least that amount available for fiscal yearl973. The Search Committee for the Greater Inland Empire Feasibility Study has an- nounced its choice for the post of Research Coordinator as Mr. Bruce A. Murray. In this full-time position, he will be the prime mover in developing community interest and in collecting data and information needed by this project. Since 1967., Mr. Murray has been an instructor in Psychology at Pepperdine University, and is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Counselor Education, School of Education at USC. A reminder from the Screening Committee for the East Los Angeles Health Man-, power Consortium--the deadline for applications for the position of Executive Director of the Consortium is October I,, 1972. Applications may be obtained from Dorothy E. Anderson, MPH - 576-1626. The incorporation papers for the Consortium are now being processed, according to Miss Anderson, Fred D. Hubbard, of AREA V staff, reports that the West San Gabriel Valley Health Task Force is planning a mini health fair to be held on September 9, 19721, at the Job -Resource iand Educational Center, 147 East Olive Street in the City of Monrovia. Exhibits on sickle cell anemia, respiratory, heart dis- ease and other health educational subjects are planned. The School of Nursing of the Universi ty of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announcesthat due to continuing demand, additional copies have been printed of their resource list of films and videotapes for nursing and relcfted health sciences, and are avoilab'le free to anyone in the health sciences,. Contact: Mrs. Phyllis Duke, TV Coordinator for Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 4 AREA V PEOPLE AREA V Advisory Council member Clifton 0. Duminett, DDS, has been honored by election to the Institute of Medicine of t e National Academy of Sciences. He is the only dentist of the lnstitute's 52 members. Mrs. Bernice C. Harper's many friends in AREA V will be pleased-to' learn that she has been honored with the Ida M. Cannon Award of the Society for Hospital Social Work Directors of the American Hospital Association. Mrs. Harper, who is director of social services for the City of Hope' Medical Cen@te'r is currently on assignment in Washington, D'. C. AREA V staff members Dorothy E. Anderson, MPH and John S. Lloyd, PhD' both participated in site reviews of other RMPs recently. Miss Anders@n chaired the group which evaluated the Central New York RMP. Dr. Lloyd was a member of the site team reviewing Albany RMP. Gerold Bresnahan, MD and Marilyn Kemtes, RN, BSN, who worked together in the AREA V RMP sponsored coronary care classes at Good.Somaritan. Medical Center, will be the medical director and course coordinator of ci new program beginning October, 1972. The course to be offered RN ''s will 6e'ct-g@l@eatl@ ex- panded curriculum covering all aspects of critical care. Information can be obtained by contacting Miller Community College, (213)' George C. Griffith, MD is the recipient of a Citation from the Countyof L. A* Committee on Emergency Medical. Care,,.extending their appreciation'a'@d big'h.-l regard for his excellent work as Chairman of the Countywide Conference on Emergency Medical Services held July 19-20.. AREA V staff were intrigued with a group of high school students who teeter- tattered on a vacant lot in Alhambra during one of the recent hot spells. Their 504 continuous hours 21-day'r6cord raised a' total of $'711 fci'r the American'C6ncer society. By the @6y,@,br. -Griffith will be ap earing on KCET@ Channel @29 66 6@t:e@e-r @16, p -6:00@p.M -"Hd wilL be in ervi ed by Dal -e Groo D of t of 5:30 t ew heiU Oklahoma, discussing cardiology and C:'O'rnporing current status with"lik6ly"lf6turie developments and post practices. lt@is one of a series of programs produced by the University of Oklahoma under a grant from the Oklahoma RMP. 3 NEW STAFF MEMBER FOR AREA V Mrs. Elaine R. Fletcher joined AREA V staff on August I as Project Coordinator, Continuity re'.. Mrs. Fletcher will direct a new AREA V project' which, after assessment of the state of continuity of patient core in various dis- tricts of AREA V, will invite the participation of a selected number of hospitals in the presentation of workshops designed to improve continuity of care. Efforts will be made to have continuity of patient core training efforts included on an ongoing basis in the regular offerings of existing continuing education mecha- nisms. For the past year, Mrs. Fletcher was community health nursing consultant for the Department of Social and Health Services, State of Washington. Prior experience in AREA V includes consulting services with the Visiting Nurse Associations of Pomona-West End, and of Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley; Director of Nursing Services for Brea Hospital Neuropsychiatric Center; Assistant Professor, Depart- ment of Nursing, and. Coordinator of Public Health nursing faculty at Cal-State; Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing for San Bernardino County Health Department. She received her BS from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health 'and MS from the School of Nursing at UCLA. Mrs. Gail M. White represented AREA V at the July 24-25 workshop "in-Home services-Strat6gies for Community Planning'." The meeting was co-sponsored by the California Association of Home Health Agencies and the U. S. Public Health Service, HEW Region IX. The 50 participants at the Los Angeles Can- ference@were from Southern California and Arizona. Another session was held in San Francisco for Northern California and Nevada. The purpose of the invitational workshop was to exchange ideas and information on existing programs and to discuss approaches for the inclusion of home care in the Comprehensive Health System of the community. National directions were described by Claire F. Ryder, MD, MPH, Chief of the Home Health Branch of the Division of Health Resources, Community Health Service, HSMHA, and by.- Brahno Trager, Health Care Consultant San Geronimo California. Also dis- cussed were relationships of in-home services to other parts of the health care delivery system, to emerging HMO's and to various governmental agencies. Cluster sessions involved participants in identifying some problems and solutions related to in-home services. 5 Area Advisory Council Liston A, Witherill, Chairman professional Advisory Group Lee D. Cady, Jr. M.D. Jose-F. Carlos John M.- Connor, M.A. Henry B. Dunlap, M.P.H. Dale C. Ga@ell, M.D. George C. Griffith, M.D. Lewis W. Guiss, M.D. Stanley E. Giinstream, Ph.D. Fotine D. O'Connor, R.N. David L. Odell, M.H.A.. Robert H. Pudenz, M.D. Robert E. Randle, M.D. Dr. Barbara J. Solomon, A.C.S.W. Area Coordinator Donald W. Petit, M.D. Staff Dorothy E. Anderson, M.P.H. Elias Chico Jane Z. Cohen, B.A. Elaine R. Fletcher, M -S. cr. R.N Kay D. Fuller Leon C.@H@'uck, M.P. Frederick D. Hubbard John S. Lloyd, Ph.0, Elsie M. McGuff Clyde E. Madden,@A.P@S.W., C) CL) C,3 CD Teresita P. Moreno, M.S.W., ail @M.-White, M.A G co cc