Project Summary
Background: While significant efforts have been made to engage underserved populations in clinical and translational research, much more needs to be done to reinforce meaningful engagement of minority and underserved patient populations to address disparities. National trends call for the transformation of health care through patient/stakeholder engagement in the systematic evaluation of health outcomes, particularly among marginalized populations. Recent reports highlight the persistence of poor healthcare quality and patient outcomes in specific populations, in particular, underserved minorities.
Proposed Solution to the Problem: In an effort to address the widespread interest in patient-centeredness and stakeholder engagement, the Conference for Community Engagement and Healthcare Improvement (CEHI) was created. With a specific focus on underrepresented minorities and underrepresented researchers (i.e., nurse researchers), the objective of this conference is to fill gaps in knowledge, skills, and practice by building capacity within these groups to successfully implement comparative effectiveness research and patient-centered outcomes research.
Objectives: The project team’s objective is to host an in-person conference, titled 2017 Conference for Community Engagement and Healthcare Improvement (CEHI). At this conference, research findings, evidence-based practices, and tools centering on patient-centered outcomes research will be summarized and communicated in an effort to develop successful community-based, patient-centered programs of research and improve the access to and utilization of research findings.
Activities: To ensure that the objectives and aims of the CEHI conference are met, the team will host keynote presentations, workshops, and podium and poster presentations.
Projected Outcomes:
- Developed research agenda round three areas of health importance in South Texas, namely a) opioid abuse, b) cancer survivorship, and c) minority caregiver issues
- Increased capacity in nursing researchers to implement and communicate essential elements of their patient-centered outcomes research
- Establishment and expansion of collaborations between academic and practice-based nurse researchers and patient- and stakeholder-based communities and organizations.
Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Plan: The program committee for the 2017 Conference on Community Engaged Healthcare Improvement includes patient stakeholders, clinician stakeholders, healthcare system stakeholders, PCOR content experts, methods experts, and conference planning experts. Each will continue to actively participate in monthly teleconferences and ad hoc meetings and will be a significant contributor to the generation of topics and presentations at the conference. Stakeholder organizations and PCORI-funded investigative teams are also engaged in the conference with time dedicated in the program for them to disseminate their PCOR outcomes.
Project Collaborators: Collaborators include the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, University of Texas at San Antonio, The University of the Incarnate Word, the Department of Defense, Brooks Army Military Medical Center, The Louise H. Batz Foundation, Adelante U.S. Education Leadership Fund, the San Antonio Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, US TOO Military Prostate Cancer Survivor Support Group, and iConquer MS PPRN.
Project Resource: Agenda