Bobbie Berkowitz, PhD, RN, FAAN the Dean and Professor at Columbia University School of Nursing and the Senior Vice President of Columbia University Medical Center introduced the Population Health Driver Diagram to the next generation of nurse practitioners as a way to integrate clinical and primary care with population health. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, population health has become a core component of healthcare. Dean Berkowitz has used the Population Health Driver Diagram developed by the Public Health Foundation (PHF) as a framework to make this integration.
For nursing students studying to provide clinical care for individuals, it can be a struggle to make this shift to a population health perspective so she used the diagram during her guest lectures. Dean Berkowitz started the discussion with students by defining and discussing population health, and aligning that definition with the triple AIM (Population Health; Experience of Care; Per Capita Cost). Using the Population Health Driver Diagram framework, students can see how their future role as nurses contributes to population health aims through the primary and secondary drivers of the diagram.
Dean Berkowitz used PHF’s
Public Health Antibiotic Stewardship Driver Diagram to demonstrate how community health challenges and objectives are related to primary care. She also used this framework to show how issues within the healthcare system often require collaboration with partners outside of healthcare. In addition, students learned a bit about the structure and scope of public health departments and their relationship with clinical care. Dean Berkowitz explained, “
The driver diagram helps students apply skills and expertise to build a systems view of public health for healthcare practitioners. In its basic form, it showcases how a variety of contributors help solve the problem.”
PHF developed the Population Health Driver Diagram framework to help create opportunities for public health and healthcare alignment toward achieving a community health goal. Through piloting, PHF has demonstrated the value of this framework and has developed population health driver diagrams on topics such as oral health and vector control, and is working with three communities in Texas to develop and use population health driver diagrams to address diabetes prevention and control.
The Population Health Driver Diagram framework is an excellent example to visually showcase health indicators and discuss with students how clinical work can assist with preventive health and health policy. Dean Berkowitz has used this framework to teach key concepts of public health such as the social determinants of health, and show how they are related to clinical care.
Get Started Using This Versatile Approach in Your Community
PHF offers customized technical assistance to develop and/or implement a population health driver diagram to solve a community’s health challenge. To learn more about this service, contact Margie Beaudry at 202-218-4415 or [email protected]. You can also submit your information online.