Health for the People- A Website for Discussing Healthcare Issues with All Stakeholders

Health for the People- A Website for Discussing Healthcare Issues with All Stakeholders

Keeli Tritz, SPT, ATC

 

Background: 

My inspiration for Health for the People came from our very first semester in PT school when we took a class called Psychosocial Aspects of Disability and Illness taught by Dr. Deborah Thorpe. In this class we learned about the importance of our roles in patient advocacy and how to encourage self-advocacy. We had the opportunity to hear the perspectives of real patients and caregivers and a common theme was that they did not feel like they had a way to express their perspective on the issues that directly affect them. Over the last three years there have been a significant amount of changes in policy that directly affect both how we as clinicians practice, as well as the access to and standard of care that patients receive. These changes helped solidify for me the importance of giving a voice to the people on issues that affect their lives directly.

I was further impassioned when, later in my studies, I was fortunate to have Dr. Darlene Sekerak instructing my courses on practice issues in physical therapy. She helped me realize that one person can have an impact if they know how the system works and they take the time to create relationships. Both of these impressive and wise women helped me narrow and shape the vision of my website to become what it is today. I have chosen the opioid crisis as a topic to demonstrate the function of this website based on the reality that it is a complex issue that affects everybody in our society in one way or another.

 

Purpose: 

The purpose of the Health for the People website is to create an environment that facilitates respectful exchange of information between various healthcare stakeholders. I believe that there is truth in the viewpoints of all individuals and that it is through exposure to multiple views that we are able to find common truths that benefit our society as a whole. It is the hope that over time Health for the People will become a popular forum for all participants to speak about their experiences and understanding of healthcare issues in an environment of respect and transparency. Through this dialogue all parties can feel heard, learn from others, and become more aware of what their role is in the resolution of a given issue.

 

Statement of Need:

The evidence for the need of this project is not easily sourced but it is evident in the everyday interactions we have with patients as healthcare professionals. It is evidenced by the inability of our government to provide a healthcare bill that protects the people as well as our nation’s financial interests. It is furthermore evidenced by the opioid crisis and the fact that it was able to grow to the magnitude it has, unchecked. I have done web searches to determine if there is already a similar website in existence and I have found components of the idea being implemented in different ways but nothing with the same goal and structure. For example, the APTA has a website that includes patient/caregiver testimonials¹ about using PT instead of opioids for pain management and outthemonster.com² has information about opioids and patient testimonials about overcoming the addiction, but neither are a format that really allows healthcare professionals to understand what the issue looks like from a patient’s perspective. They are both good and useful sites, but the goals are specific and very different from mine. Since the inception of this concept three years ago, I have had in-depth conversations with both community members as well as professionals on the topic which have influenced and helped shape this project to make it meaningful to both of these populations. The target audience is broad and includes anybody who has interacted with the healthcare system and/or is a part of that system who cares about current health-related issues.

 

Products:

My main product for this capstone is a website: healthforthepeople.us .This website has two main components, one to educate participants on the background of a particular issue, and the other to allow the participants to educate each other through research-based information as well as personal experience.

One of the greatest challenges of this project was trying to create a set of guidelines that protected the participant’s freedom of expression while simultaneously supporting the ideals of the project. In order to do this I created three documents that are designed to set clear expectations of all participants, including the website administrator. The first of these is the User Agreement which is a condensed outline of the expectations and user protections of the site and which must be agreed to before creation of a profile. The second is a longer document entitled Guidelines that is a reference for definitions and detailed processes which are referred to in the User Agreements. The intent of the Guidelines document is to allow the participant to fully understand the motivations, expectations, and assurances that were put in place and why they are deemed important for the function of the website. To further assure the participant of the intentions of the site, an Administrative Oath was also created. This oath shows the participant how dedicated the administrators are to upholding the values of transparency and respect in their role as discussion moderators and facilitators.

The other main component of the site is the Background section on the opioid crisis. This section was written at about a ninth grade reading level with the intent to set the stage for conversation between the various participants who will likely have large variations in education level. It was an interesting challenge to develop material that not only would be engaging for both patients and doctors alike, but that also presented unbiased information sourced from the vantage point of many different disciplines. A question and answer format was used to break down the sections further to try and make the material less intimidating and more accessible.

 

Evaluation:

The Background component of this project was evaluated by both of my committee members and feedback was used to improve the final product. Both agreed that the information was informative and well-written. Neither committee member felt that they were well-suited to provide feedback about the other three documents as they were of a more legal nature. Per their advice, I found a lawyer to review and give feedback on these documents. He candidly told me they were so well written that I should drop out of physical therapy school and become a lawyer, so luckily I did not have to make many adjustments.

The other mode of evaluation will be from the participants who contribute to the website via the forums. I have created a seven-question Feedback Survey that attempts to gain information about the usefulness of the website, the ease of use, and amount to which it achieves the goals that were established. This survey also allows space for feedback for website improvement. The site itself has just recently become fully-functional due to an unexpected delay in the process, therefore there is not yet enough activity to determine how participants will respond to the feedback survey.

 

Reflection:

This project has been an enormous learning opportunity for me in ways that I did not necessarily foresee. One of the hardest things for me about this idea was figuring out how to narrow it down to a manageable task. I have a tendency to be a “grand idea” thinker but have historically not acted on these ideas because I have become overwhelmed by the vastness and cannot see what my role is in the large picture. I was happy when I came to my committee members with such a lofty goal that they were able to help me see how to bite off a manageable size portion of the task. In such, they allowed me to be successful and still maintain my passion. I also learned that in an effort to be unbiased I may have a tendency to under-represent the interests of my own profession, which will be important to know as I take on the role of moderator of this site. This being said, I learned a lot about ways that other groups are working toward the goal of addressing the opioid crisis and was able to gain appreciation for the value of other professions in achieving this goal. Finally, I became more familiar with the world of website development. Being a person who has always resisted the influence of technology, this was a huge step for me and it will serve me in many ways in the future.

 

Acknowledgements:

First and foremost, I would like to thank both Dr. Thorpe and Dr. Sekerak for their patience and guidance throughout this project. Were it not for their combination of encouragement and questioning, I would not have made it to this point. Beyond their direct roles in this project, they both have also been inspirations to me as role models in our profession. They have proven that through perseverance and dedication, a physical therapist can have an influence not only on their patients, but on the community they belong to and their profession as a whole. I would also like to thank my capstone adviser, Dr. Prudence Plummer, for allowing me to go on this adventurous journey and for teaching me to truly value and appreciate the importance of evidence based practice. I also cannot forget attorney Steven King, for his assistance with reviewing my legal documents. Finally, I thank each and every classmate, instructor, coffee-shop stranger, friend, and family member who lent me their ear and helped me find my way to this point. I give thanks in advance to all the individuals who contribute to this site and the exchange of knowledge that it represents!

 

Resources:

1. APTA. Patient Stories: Lives Transformed by Physical Therapy. http://www.moveforwardpt.com/WhyTherapy/Stories.aspx.
2. Out the Monster: Testimonials. http://www.outthemonster.com/testimonials.html. Accessed January 23, 2018.