Community of Practice #5:
“Community Health Workers, Patient Navigators and Cultural Mediators: Training and engaging patient and family support specialists to address cultural and linguistic issues and improve access to health services for diverse populations."
This Community of Practice will offer a supportive and peer-learning oriented environment to explore the opportunities and challenges involved in using culturally proficient patient education and support staff to improve quality of care for diverse populations
Discussion topics related to working with CHWs/patient navigators/cultural mediators may include: roles and responsibilities; management methods and challenges; strategies for teaching and supporting diverse patients, families, and communities; and quantifying program achievements.
Other issues that could be discussed:
• How to define “community membership” as a qualification for recruitment and selection
• Striking the balance between generic skills training and knowledge about the specific health condition or issue that is the program focus
• The most appropriate educational and professional background for each type of position (CHWs, patient navigators, cultural mediators)
• The role of cultural competence training with staff who “come from” the target community.
• Balancing program outcomes with the need/desire to build personal relationships and “do whatever it takes” to meet patient/family/community needs
• The benefits and risks related to “professionalizing” these positions, and the challenges of integration with programs like Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare.
Participants will play a key role in developing the discussion agenda over the course of the project.
This Community of Practice is open to individuals who develop programs for and manage community health workers, patient navigators or cultural mediators involved in health programs for diverse populations. Front-line cultural support workers themselves are also invited to apply, although the emphasis will be on programmatic and management issues.
Applications for this Community of Practice are now closed. We anticipate holding the first online meeting in January 2010 and the group will meet once a month through June or July 2010. The group will produce a public resource of information collected and discussed during meetings -- we will post a link here when the resource is available.