UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Outpatient Behavioral Health Program BY: NENE DIALLO

Purpose Statement  The mission at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s is:  To improve the health of the people of Siouxland  Which is achieved by providing the best outcome for every patient every time.  As an organization all UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s employees are upheld to the ICARE values as they strive to achieve the organization mission.

Philosophy and Purpose  Is to provide support and a comprehensive treatment program to people who suffer from a chronic mental illness.  The program helps people work on their problems and supports them through difficult adjustments in their lives.

Need for Change  Patients were constantly being hospitalized in and out of the inpatient unit.  There wasn’t a middle ground where patient can receive the intensive treatment they need without being hospitalized.  Patients who need intensive treatment four times a week have to go somewhere else because UnityPoint Health- St. Luke’s doesn’t offer a partial program.

Need for Change  Implementing a partial program would allow patients to receive intensive psychiatric treatment without the inpatient hospitalization.  The program would serve a lot more patients and the patients would be exposed to broader range of different expertise.  Collaborate with the outpatient behavioral health program in the research, development, and implementation of a partial program at UnityPoint Health- St. Luke’s.

Identifying The Change  The role of the change agent was to develop a partial brochure and curriculum.  Research, interviewing patients, reading and looking through various dialectical behavioral therapy skills training manuals.

Analyzing The Change Opportunity  Partial hospitalization fits into the continuum of mental healthcare as the option that combines the best facets of inpatient care (strict criteria and intensive) with the best outpatient care (schedule flexibility and lower cost).  Treatment must be vigorous and proactive with the intent to treat the serious presenting psychiatric symptoms.  Analyzed that dialectical behavioral therapy helps an individual identify their strengths and build on them so that the individual can feel better about themselves.

Analyzing The Change Opportunity  All of the data was helpful.  It provided me with information needed to put into the partial brochure and curriculum.

Designing and Structuring  The change team staffs responsibilities were to:  Make changes in guidelines, establish principles, write new job descriptions, develop and update policies.  Assist in reviewing and providing feedback to the change agent in regards to the partial brochure and curriculum.

Determining Resources  Identify resources needed to develop the partial brochure and curriculum.  Main resources needed were printing and craft supplies.  Very few cost for the partial brochure and curriculum

Partial Brochure  Incorporated information about the Outpatient Behavioral Health Program  Included: Outpatient Behavioral Health Program goal, philosophy and purpose, the staff, program description, and general information.

Partial Curriculum  Boundaries were set for the development  There needed to be a good flow of educational topics that transition from week to week  Therefore the topic couldn’t just be random  The flow would go Monday to Monday, Tuesday to Tuesday, and etc.  Rather Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday

Partial Curriculum  Due to session length  The education topics needs to tie in with the cognitive activity  Divided the curriculum into weeks with specific educational topics and cognitive activities  Educational topics included anxiety, depression, anger management, coping skills, stress, feelings and symptoms, time management, healthy relationships and so much more

Partial Curriculum  Cognitive activities ranged from group discussions, creating crafts, to watching movies.  Each educational topic and activity was designed to provide the patients with a meaningful learning opportunity

Monitoring The Change  Developed a Gantt Chart  Kept the development of the partial brochure and curriculum on schedule  Weekly Wednesday meetings  Time to discuss the change process, show what was developed, and needed to be done after each action step was met.

Evaluating The Change  Developed a satisfactory survey for staffs and patients of the outpatient behavioral health program to monitor the process after the implementation  Will provide change agent with a reliable and effective tool to gather feedback on the partial brochure and curriculum from those staffs and patients involved.

Reassessing and Stabilizing  The partial brochure and curriculum will inevitably become part of UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Unit.  Throughout the entire implementation of a partial hospitalization program I found the change team to be extremely helpful, encouraging, and supportive.  At the completion of the partial brochure and curriculum I believe that I have contributed a vital role in the change.

References  "An Overview of the Partial Hospitalization Modality." Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar  Van Dijk, Sheri. DBT Made Simple. N.p.: n.p., Print.

Questions??? Thank You!!!