National Jewish Health in the Community: Educational Collaborations with Local and Regional Impact
The Office of Professional Education at National Jewish Health (Professional Education) is working with local and regional health networks to address knowledge, competence, and performance gaps in the areas of asthma, COPD, and atopic dermatitis.
Through three educational initiatives supported by GlaxoSmithKline and one by Pfizer, Professional Education provides evidence-based education to more than 200 providers and more than 300 medical staff who treat medically underserved, uninsured, and underinsured patients in Colorado. These programs address the diagnosis and management of asthma, COPD, and atopic dermatitis. They provide educational trainings and resources to physicians, RNs, NPs, PAs, MAs, and other members of the health care team and positively impact the lives of tens of thousands of patients.
These performance improvement continuing medical education (PI CME) programs take place over a 1-2 year time frame, with the goal of providing community health networks with the knowledge, skills, tools, support and infrastructure to sustain best practices and improve patient outcomes. These goals are met through evidence-based education, hands-on and in-clinic training, redesign of patient workflow, and a team-based approach to care. See a local news story on one of the programs.
Another important component of the programs is engaging patients in the self-management of their illness by using patient education materials developed in both English and Spanish that are designed to meet the needs of specific populations.
Professional Education has collaborated with the following community health networks on the PI CME initiatives mentioned above: Metro Community Provider Network, Salud Family Health Centers, Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center, Valley-Wide Health Systems and Conejos County Hospital. These programs take place in the Denver metropolitan area, rural areas north and east of Denver and the San Luis Valley in western Colorado.
Professional Education thanks the community health networks and physicians, the program chairs, faculty and staff for their expertise, time and commitment to these educational initiatives.
Learn more about these PI CME educational initiatives:
Colorado Tools for Managing Respiratory Disease (Asthma Toolkit)
Chairs: Bruce Bender, PhD; Andy Liu, MD; Barry Make, MD
Quality Asthma Care in the San Luis Valley
Chairs: Lisa Cicutto, PhD, RN, ACNP; Esther Langmack, MD
National Jewish Health COPD Toolkit
Chairs: Bruce Bender, PhD; Barry Make, MD
Targeting the Atopic March: Managing Atopic Dermatitis
Chair: Mark Boguniewicz, MD
For more information about PI CME, other educational offerings and the Office of Professional Education, please visit njhealth.org/cme or contact Professional Education at 303.398.1000 (x1000).