There is a growing movement among health care organizations to adopt the Community Health Worker (CHW) model into their system as a way to provide comprehensive care to patients and community members. At the same time there is uncertainty about how to implement the CHW model to achieve better patient outcomes, higher quality of care, and lower health care … [Read more...] about Best Practice Guidelines for Implementing and Evaluating Community Health Worker Programs in Health Care Settings
CHW Role
Community Case Management of Fever Due to Malaria and Pneumonia in Children Under Five in Zambia: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Pneumonia and malaria, two of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children under five in Zambia, often have overlapping clinical manifestations. Zambia is piloting the use of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) by community health workers (CHWs) to treat uncomplicated malaria. Valid concerns about potential overuse of AL could be addressed by the use of malaria rapid … [Read more...] about Community Case Management of Fever Due to Malaria and Pneumonia in Children Under Five in Zambia: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Quality Improvement in Diabetes Care Using Community Health Workers
Community health centers take care of patients who are at high risk for adverse medical outcomes because of poverty, linguistic isolation, poor education, and poor health habits. Because of their population focus, health centers are positioned to implement systems-level changes affecting many patients. This article discusses the quality improvement initiatives at Holyoke … [Read more...] about Quality Improvement in Diabetes Care Using Community Health Workers
Teaching how, not what: the contributions of community health workers to diabetes self-management.
The purpose of this study is to describe ways in which community health workers (CHWs) are used in various clinic and community settings to support diabetes self-management (DSM). The assistance CHWs reported providing was most often in form of encouragement/motivation. During interviews, patients shared that CHWs were helpful in demonstrating how to incorporate DSM into their … [Read more...] about Teaching how, not what: the contributions of community health workers to diabetes self-management.
Do community health worker interventions improve rates of screening mammography in the United States? A systematic review.
Community health workers (CHW) are lay individuals who are trained to serve as liaisons between members of their communities and health care providers and services. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence from all prospective controlled studies on effectiveness of CHW programs in improving screening mammography rates. Participation in a CHW intervention … [Read more...] about Do community health worker interventions improve rates of screening mammography in the United States? A systematic review.