In the ever-changing home care environment, there is constant pressure to integrate best practices and processes into all areas of home care operations, especially clinical practice. As Trish Tulloch explains in another article in this issue, with OASIS-C upon us, using best practices affects everything.
Nevertheless, searching the literature and the web for those best practices can be both confusing and time consuming. The most important component when finding and using best practices, especially including research- and evidence-based practice, is being sure they are valid and reliable, knowing they can be used with confidence and are current and will help you direct patient care.
Over the past three years, the Collaboration for Homecare Advances in Management and Practice – CHAMP – has increasingly become a valuable resource for home care clinicians, clinical, quality improvement and educational managers, educators, as well as anyone else interested in advancing home care clinical practice and patient outcomes.
Administered by the Center for Home Care Policy & Research, a part of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, you can be confident the information is reliable. Add the CHAMP program web site to your Internet Favorites. Use it as a go-to resource for agency policies and procedures. Have confidence in the support you will find there in the questions and answers from peers and consultants.
CHAMP’s web site http://www.champ-program.org/ provides:
- A broad, web-based community where members can interact with other home care professionals and experts and gain access to information on the latest performance improvement innovations and updates http://www.champ-program.org/page/57/champ-community
- Downloadable tools, presentations and guidelines in the Resources section http://www.champ-program.org/page/40/resources
- Affordable, self-paced online educational programs to enhance frontline manager and staff skills http://www.champ-program.org/page/39/programs-learning
- Evidence-based, best practice information provided by evidence briefs summarizing the nation’s first consistent geriatric practice framework for home care http://www.champ-program.org/page/56/framework
Many agencies have used CHAMP resources. A Clinical Nurse Specialist of a large home health agency commented, “I have to tell you it is fabulous…The amount of info, the quality of info is unbelievable…one terrific web site!”
Laurie Reische, CHAMP Program Manager, told an IHCC interviewer, “It is exciting to be able to bring CHAMP to home care organizations and stakeholders all over the country. Now home care organizations and staff have a place to easily access evidence-based resources and best practices that specifically address the complex needs of older home care patients.”
