Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2024 - 9

FROM EXPERIENCE / ROUNDS
3 | Integrate families
Seek input from families when developing,
implementing, and improving
screenings. Children's Specialized
Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey,
sought feedback from its Family Faculty,
who are parents and
family members of current
or former patients.
This group offers a unique
perspective and empathy
for families going through
similar situations. Family
Faculty helped the team
implement social driver
screenings in outpatient,
inpatient, and long-term
care settings. They also provided guidance
on the hospital's screening tool,
the implementation process, and ways
to build trust and safe spaces for these
conversations. Involving families
highlighted the importance of offering
various screening modalities in the outpatient
setting-including text, email,
or assistance of a family navigator-to
allow families to respond in a way that
is most comfortable for them.
Timing has been critical to ensure
MOST SOCIAL
DRIVER SCREENING
PROGRAMS START
SMALL AND EXPAND
OVER TIME.
successful implementation. The team
planted the seed early, shared why this
work is important, and identified staff
to serve as champions throughout the
implementation process.
Staff helped design workflows
and integrate social
drivers into the electronic
health record. In addition,
they developed presentations,
computer-based
training modules, and an
interactive resource guide
for the teams involved with
the program.
Cincinnati Children's
created a
task force to develop an institutional
approach to screen for social drivers,
depression, suicide, and substance use.
The hospital found screening was not
taking place in a standardized way
across the organization. As a result,
staff identified early-adopter groups and
now use their experience to make recommendations
on how to scale standardized
efforts across the organization.
4 | Understand cultures
Tailor screening efforts to patients'
social, cultural, and linguistic needs.
Children's Minnesota hires resource
navigators from its diverse communities
who have a better understanding of
families' unique needs. These navigators
connect families to resources within
their network of community partners
and make warm handoffs. The navigators
follow up over time and ensure families
have access to the resources they need.
5 | Expand slowly
Pilot new screenings in one area before
expanding across the hospital or system.
For example, Children's Health in Dallas
began its systemwide implementation
in ambulatory settings in July 2022, followed
by inpatient settings in February
2024, and expanded to the emergency
department in July 2024.
6 | Keep refining
Continue to improve the quality and
efficiency of social driver screenings.
Nemours Children's Health in Delaware
and Florida has taken a Plan-Do-Study-Act
approach, a standard quality improvement
process. The six-phase process
continues to evolve as the health system
responds to internal learning, evaluation,
research, and insights from peers.
This article was adapted from the
Children's Hospital Association and
Nyoo Health report, Screening for
Social Drivers of Health: Children's
Hospitals Respond, that highlights
strategies to address social needs
and ways to integrate screening tools
throughout a hospital.
What's on your mind? Email
communications@childrenshospitals.org.
BRIGHT IDEAS
GAMIFYING NURSE TRAINING
An immersive board game (The
Black Cloud Game™) from
Children's Mercy Kansas City
helps hone critical thinking skills
for nurses in medical-surgical
and critical care settings through
interactive play.
GETTING PATIENTS GROOVING
There's no place like Oz (short for
Optimization Zone), a dedicated
space at Ranken Jordan Pediatric
Bridge Hospital where medically
complex children in sensitive
developmental ages engage in
play and social activities.
BRINGING HOLLYWOOD TO
HEALTH CARE
Northwell Health launched a
production company to develop
scripted and unscripted film
and TV content for major
distributors, hoping to drive
health awareness and improve
financial sustainability.
Share your ideas. Email communications
@childrenshospitals.org.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Fall 2024
9
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Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2024

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