Online Program

282285
Use of the omaha system to modify child care health consultation services within a quality improvement and rating system


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Kathleen Ford, BSN, RN-BC, Public Health Nursing, Pima County Health Department, Tucson, AZ
In 2006 Arizona voters passed an initiative that funds early childhood development through an .80 per pack tobacco tax. Quality First, the signature program of First Things First, the state agency created by the initiative, works to improve the quality of early education services in child care programs through a voluntary quality improvement and rating system (QIRS)which incorporates the services of child care health consultants (CCHCs). The Omaha System, a research-based, comprehensive practice and documentation standardized taxonomy designed to document client care was selected to capture and monitor the CCHC process. Use of the Omaha System's Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes allowed early identification of needed modifications in the delivery model for CCHC services. Findings included: 1. Initial ratings which showed child care programs fell well below scores which should be anticipated for programs meeting regulatory compliance; 2. Sluggish improvement in health and safety outcome scores; 3. Higher health and safety outcome scores for child care programs not participating in the QIRS but receiving the independent services of a CCHC. A new tiered service model, based on the National Training Insititute for Child Care Health Consultants' foundational principle that "child care health consultation occurs between a professional helpgiver and a helpseeker" and an assessment of the child care program's readiness to receive either sporadic short-term problem consultation or intensive health and safety quality improvement consultation is demonstrating vigorous, rising outcome scores. Use of the Omaha System has informed this population-focused intervention keeping services effective and maximizing taxpayer dollars.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Describe changes to child care health consultation services which were put in place based on outcomes documented in the Omaha System.

Keyword(s): Child Care, Public Health Nursing, Outcomes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Nurse Manager for the Child Care Health Consultation Program at Pima County Health Department. I have provided public health-related training, consultation and technical assistance in early childhood settings such as shelters, Head Start and child care programs for since 1987. I have been a trainer of child care health consultants since 2002 and have actively provided technical assistance for the development of a statewide child care health consultation system.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.