Case Manager/Health Coach Resource Information Folder, Capstone Project Example

Executive Summary

When working within any healthcare-related organization, it is always essential to make sure that the staff members of the organization are well equipped with the knowledge that they need to ensure the safety of their clients. In a network of operation, staff members are expected to be able to communicate as well as correlate between each other the information that is necessary for the progressive development of each health case being dealt with and resolved. Case managers are among the members of such organizations who are delegated to make sure that such operations happen smoothly therefore reducing time wastage as well as assure quality improvement that would make it easier for other staff members to complete their tasks towards the patients.

To be able to resolve the issue regarding this matter, it is suggested through this paper that an establishment of an effective information management system be imposed so as to make sure that the process of operation remains intact between junior and senior case managers especially during times when emergency situations are being dealt with. It is aimed through this process that the quality of service that the company provides through an increased competence on the part of the members as they complete the tasks that are expected of them to be completed.

Establishing an Effective Case Manager/Health Coach Resource Information Folder

Through Developing Proper Information Management System

Background of the Project

Information sharing is an important aspect of any particular organization thriving to specifically serve a group of clients based on the existence of accurate data. Notably, for case managers and health coaches such matter is a crucial part of work. Hence, to make sure that they are able to provide proper information so as to assure excellent assistance to their stakeholders, a creation of an effective information management system that is defined under the need to establish a health coach resource information folder online is being suggested for this project.

One of the Key job responsibilities of Case Managers at work is to equip members with various resources to help manage and maintain their health. As Case Managers educate members over the phone, various resources are used base on individual needs. It is both essential that these resources are easily accessible to speed up the flow of this process and to provide members with valid and verifiable resources that are company approved. Having been with my company for only four months as a new Case Manager, it was evident to me that one of the most important roles I played as a Case Manager was to provide and equip members with a myriad of information based on the care gaps. Also, during this period, I came to realized that most of the resources needed to perform this job were not readily available especially to new Case Managers and Health Coaches. Additionally, there were seasoned Case Managers who had gathered over the years, a myriad of resources through working with members but not of the resources were maintained in one system.

From this observation, I was inspired to develop a data base that would carry all the information that was already being used by different Case Managers. Since I was in the process of completing my course work for my graduate studies, this became something of interest to pursue for my Capstone Project. I then consulted with my Manager, who after consulting with our director, agreed that such a tool may be required and was necessary to necessitate the delivery of care. After the proposal’s approval, I developed a survey tool which gave all Health Coaches and Case Managers an opportunity to write down some of the resources that they were already using in assisting members. After communicating the information to other managers, it was determined that I needed to give a brief presentation describing the project, goal and expectations during staff meetings. I attended several staff meetings both in person and through teleconfering and gave a brief description of my projects and the role that everyone was expected to play in order for this to be a success. The reception was very good and everyone immediately started submitting their resources both via e-mail and office mail.

Objectives

Here are some of the reasons behind the pursuance of the development and application of this particular project:

• To develop an established data source that would contain accurate resources that are needed by health coaches as they handle their responsibilities towards their stakeholders.
• To mandate an effective flow of information to be able to facilitate effective service and support towards those who are needing assistance from the organization.
• To improve worker camaraderie between junior and senior coaches through assuring effective and continuous open information flow.

Procedures and Methodologies to be implemented:

• data collection
• analyzing data
• verifying data validity
• evaluation and implementation.

Data collection process

A bulk of my work entailed collecting data and ensuring that all the data collected were valid and that these resources were still available. A great amount of time was also spent on calling some of the contacts to verify that the services that were available through their organizations. Some of the resources involved internet search to ensure that the sites were valid and to find the telephone numbers of the organizations since some of the members do not have internet connections.

Assessment and Analyzing:

As case managers act as patient advocates trying to align around the common goal of providing advocacy for patients as they attempt to navigate the complex healthcare system, it can be very challenging especially for new case managers to assist patients in various needs. As our company just recently hired a number of new Health Coaches/Case Managers, one of the areas that I observed most struggles in was acquiring information to provide to members. As each health coach struggled through the system to ask more seasoned staff with help finding resources, it seemed to take longer to facilitate the delivery of care and even when resources were obtained, they were not organized in manner that was easy to use.This was when I decided to assess the situation and come up with a solution that could help remedy this problem. Assessing the situation was key to finding logical facts by holding meetings with managers and their staff and before I continued with this process. I had to have everyone’s buy-innsbefore I could continue with the next phase which was planning.

Planning

This was the second step to my project. I had to prioritize, for example, since there was so much data received from all the groups, I had to determine what information was necessary for the purpose of this project. Ensuring that the goal was measurable and attainable within a specified time was one of the key sources of this project’s success. Given the limited time frame, I had to decide on a plan of action with a time table for implementation. My goal was to ensure that input from all the Nursing staff and managers are properly kept, maintained and assured for availability for future use and references. The key issue in this process was taking goals into considerations and knowing what needed to be done and how I was going to accomplish the goals. Consideration of time that was realistic to devote to this project was a challenge since information collected was very broad. I had to key into an area that I thought would make the greatest impact in patient care.

Challenges

The project was started during a period of transition and major changes within the Case Management and Health Coach roles. This made it very difficult for me to get a good overview from my preceptor on what was expected from the project. After the project was underway, my manager realized that the project needed to have been authorized by another level of management and that the existing Case Management Resource Manual had not been updated for over three years. Also, one of the big challenges was determining the format, storage and how often the project will have to be updated.

Learning

Throughout this project, I learned that being organized is a crucial part to creating and developing a good project. Performing good research prior to committing to a project is also important as I found out that there was a resource manual that was developed within the system, but was never updated as years went by. It was essential that I combine both resource projects and update the old system. This required meeting with various departments and involving a larger team that I anticipated. One great achievement for me was to be able to part of something that would assist everyone. Also to my surprise, this project is under review by a committee who will determine how the data will be stored. There could be an opportunity for advancement in my career due to this undertaking. Most of all, I enjoyed being part of something big.

Conclusion and Finalization

Overall, based on the projection and the established objectives of this particular approach to improvement of systems, I realized that learning what has been an existing system and how it was used before has created a clear sense of understanding on me with regards the particular need of my project’s being superior to the said system. Extending the challenges at this point created a great opportunity for me to improve not only the project itself, but my personal attention towards the details needed for its development. I was able to note that when doing such a project, the primary focus on the stakeholders is essential hence making it possible for the system to work according to their needs hence rendering the entire project functional and usable for effectiveness.

Development is always a part of any organization. At this point, development of the past information data base not only through updating it but through improving its function is deemed useful towards creating a more dependable sense of operation that the case managers and health coaches need to be known for. Understandably, this project provided me a personal chance to attend to arising problems and clear off the process from unnecessary clutter so as to assure that the objectives of the project are met effectively met.