Getting The Right Care At Day Care

This spring, the ABIM Foundation awarded four mini-grants to assist 2013–2015 grantees in their last month of work. HealthInsight Utah used its mini-grant to connect with early childcare workers and advocates with a goal of engaging parents and disseminating Choosing Wisely® materials. This new initiative expanded on work HealthInsight did to identify and raise awareness about five Choosing Wisely recommendations through its initial grant, which focused on adult and pediatric recommendations.

“Three of the five recommendations impacted children, so we thought about how to reach parents,” Sarah Woolsey, MD, of HealthInsight said. “Day care kept coming up during community stakeholder conversations, so we reached out to early childhood workers. Our organization had done work with adults and seniors in the past. This was a new audience.”

HealthInsight created patient-friendly materials using Consumer Reports resources, including “Five Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before You Get Any Test, Treatment, or Procedure” and information about when children do and don’t need antibiotics for a sore throat, cough and runny nose.

“We know that sometimes parents pressure physicians to prescribe antibiotics due to day care policies,” Dr. Woolsey said. “We had a chance to dialogue with childcare workers about their policies and to provide evidence-based consumer-friendly educational material for their centers.”

The materials directed people to HealthInsight’s updated Choosing Wisely page, which includes resources that users can download and print. They were also mailed to about 140 day care providers and leveraged during HealthInsight’s outreach efforts:

• Woolsey trained more than 60 early childhood care providers on antibiotic stewardship.
• Forty people attended a Choosing Wisely webinar on antibiotic stewardship. Feedback indicated that attendees learned that antibiotics don’t treat viruses and that it’s OK to ask providers questions.
• HealthInsight had a booth at the area Early Childhood Development Conference and distributed 378 educational packets about Choosing Wisely.

“The information was all well received by the early childhood teachers and parent educators,” Dr. Woolsey said about the trainings. “Choosing Wisely messaging is welcome in many settings. It’s adaptable and has potential to grab the attention of diverse groups. Teachers also asked for materials in Spanish.”

Through an additional grant from the Cambia Health Foundation, HealthInsight will continue working with Head Start as well as other community-based organizations on a health care education program, which includes Choosing Wisely materials. The program will focus on helping the newly insured—many of whom now have coverage through the Affordable Care Act—navigate the health care system and interactions with their care team.