Essential Characteristic #2 – What Flexibility can do for you

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

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Anne-Marie Slaughter, former Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State, gave a TED talk in 2013 where she discussed work-life balance---how it helps employers and employees, and how it can facilitate gender equality in the work place.

Her talk offered an excellent perspective on an important societal issue, but it also outlined the beneficial effects of giving employees flexible schedules.

In cardiovascular care, flexible scheduling is not impossible or unreasonable. The importance of work-life balance and its effects on everything from quality of care to the bottom line make flexible staffing the second of our 5 essential characteristics of highly effective cardiovascular teams.

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5 Essential Characteristics of Highly Effective Cardiovascular Teams #1 – Communication

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

char01In March, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health released a report detailing the importance of communication in cardiovascular care.

The report was straightforward: "Primary-care teams with more members talking to each other face-to-face every day deliver higher-quality cardiovascular disease (CVD) care at a lower cost."

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ACC Endorses Team-Based Care, Adds Advanced Practice Practitioners

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

The American College of Cardiology released a health policy statement endorsing team-based care and outlining the inclusion of advanced-practice practitioners.

The ACC’s strategic plan is aligned with the triple aim of improved care, improved population health, and lower costs per capita. The traditional understanding of quality, access, and cost is that you cannot improve one component without diminishing the others. With cardiovascular team-based care, it is possible to achieve the triple aim of improving quality, access, and cost simultaneously to also improve cardiovascular health. (read the statement)

The statement lists the advantages of several different models for team-based care, from the traditional care model to health clinics and a population health framework. These include reduced readmissions, reduced hospitalizations, reliable use of evidence-based therapies, consistent documentation of education, improved patient safety, efficient use of workforce, and improved access and care coordination.

The statement stresses the importance of inter-professional education in facilitating team-based care:

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