Public health improvement initiatives (PHII)

Public health improvement initiatives (PHII)

Pupblic health improvement initiatives (PHII) provide invaluable data for patient-centered care, but their research is often conducted in a context different from the needs of any individual patient . providers must make a conscious effeort to apply their findings to specific patient’s care.

 

Patient profiles

At last week’s conference I spoke with Alicia Balewa, Director of Safe Headspace. They’re a relatively new nonprofit working on improving outcomes for TBI patients, and I immediately thought of Mr. Nowak. At his last biannual cholesterol screening he mentioned having trouble with his balance. This may be related to his hypertension, but he believes it’s related to the time he was hospitalized many years ago after falling out of a tree, and expressed distress that this might be the beginning of a rapid decline.

Ms. Balewa will be on premises next week, and I’d like to set aside some time for you to talk.

 

Interview Alicia Balewa to find out more about a public health improvement initiative that might apply to Mr. Nowak’s care.

 

1. I have a patient who might benefit from some of the interventions for TBI and PTSD you recenty studied. What populations did your public health improvement initiative study?

My father came home from Vietnam with a kaleidoscope of mental health problems. That was the 1970s, when treatment options for things like PTSD, TBI, and even depression were very different. Since then there has been a lot of investment in treatment and recovery for combat veterans. That’s excellent news for veterans in treatment now, but they’re not looking at my dad, and how his TBI and PTSD have affected him through mid–life and now as a senior. That’s why I started Safe Headspace: to focus on older patients who are years or decades past their trauma, and find ways to help them.