New Releases
2020 Webinar Series
The NCLHD Accreditation Program is offering a free monthly webinar series beginning in June 2020 and running through June 2021. The next webinar, Understanding Your Community’s Superpowers will be held July 16 from 10—11:30 a.m. This webinar will focus on engaging in positive and effective interactions with diverse cultures. There is no cost to attend, however registration is required. Register here.
The recording of the June 17 webinar, Public Health Superheroes: Protecting and Promoting Health in North Carolina, is posted on our website.
Save the date for the August 20, 10—11:30 a.m. webinar, Your Superhero Utility Belt. This webinar will focus on the Driving the Future: Assessment of the North Carolina Local Public Health Workforce report. Registration will open soon.
Information about upcoming webinars will be posted on the Webinar Series page of our website.
COVID-19 Response and the NCLHD Accreditation HDSAI: A Guide for Potential Evidence
The COVID-19 Response Guide highlights potential accreditation evidence opportunities related to the health departments response to COVID-19. Not all things listed in the Guide will be relevant to all health departments and whether an activity is ultimately “Met” will depend on how thoroughly the agency presents their evidence and how applicable the evidence is. Therefore, submission of evidence related to the suggestions in the Guide is not binding and should not be considered as automatically met. Likewise, the suggestions in the Guide are applicable to the full details in the HDSAI Interpretation guidance.
As the pandemic response unfolds, new ideas for evidence will come to light, so this Guide will be an evolving document. We strongly encourage LHDs to regularly review the Guide and send suggestions for potential evidence and local health department examples to the NCLHD Accreditation program for inclusion in future revisions. We would appreciate the opportunity to share examples of the evidence you are using. Please email suggestions or examples to: NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu. We will include a note in the monthly highlights when the Guide is updated.
Accreditation in Action
NCLHD Accreditation Annual Survey – July 16 – August 6, 2020
The NCLHD Accreditation Annual Survey will be conducted from July 16 – August 6, 2020. The purpose of the survey is to learn more about local health departments experience with accreditation and to learn the ways the accreditation program can continue to add value to the accreditation process. The survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete and is open to AACs, accreditation team members and local health directors. AACs and health directors will be emailed links to the survey and are encouraged to send it to other accreditation team members.
The New AAC Training will be held on September 15 from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. The New AAC Training provides a basic overview of the accreditation process and the role of the AAC. The training is for new AACs, co-AACs and back-up AACs. The training is offered bi-annually, each spring and fall. Due to COVID-19 the spring 2020 training will be held on-line with no registration fee (the registration fee typically covers the cost of the facility and lunch). Registration is limited to 25 people. A waitlist will be created, if needed. Registration will close 5 p.m. on September 8, 2020. Register here.
NCLHD Accreditation Dashboard – Tips and Tricks for Naming Documents
When you are adding documents to the dashboard, keep in mind that the documents are automatically listed in alphabetical order on the Document Management page. Make sure your team has a consistent way to name documents to make them easier to search for and find. For example, if the document title includes a date, does the date go at the beginning of the document name or at the end? Consistency will make it easier for everyone to easily locate the documents they need.
Key Dates
Understanding Your Community’s Superpowers – July 16, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Webinar. Engaging in positive and effective interactions with diverse cultures is critical to public health practice. Learning how to be more culturally competent is important for all health department staff. Participants on this webinar will learn how to apply at least one new strategy to increase staff cultural competency over the next year. Register here.
Your Superhero Utility Belt – August 20, 2020, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Webinar. Public health professionals have a variety of problem solving and detective tools at their disposal. This webinar will focus on one specific resource, the Driving the Future: Assessment of the North Carolina Local Public Health Workforce report. Participants will learn how to use the Driving the Future report to inform their training policies and plans. Registration opening soon.
New Agency Accreditation Training – September 15, 2020 8:30 a.m. -2 p.m. Webinar. The New AAC training provides a basic overview of the accreditation process and the role of the AAC. The training is for new AACs, co-AACs and back-up AACs. Register here.
Tips and Tricks for Accreditation Success: Stories From the Field
Tips and Tricks for Accreditation Success: Stories from the Field
Dare County Department of Health and Human Services: Two committees working towards quality in two different ways
The Dare County Department of Health and Human Services has two committees working toward continuous quality improvement and reaccreditation, but they have very different approaches and responsibilities. Both the Continuous Readiness Committee (CRC) and the Quality Improvement Council (QIC) have important roles in quality and culture but their roles are very different. For instance the CRC is made up mostly of management team members and program managers with a focus on meeting standards while the QIC is staff based looking at ways to improve overall quality of services and addresses areas identified as opportunities for improvement.
The CRC provides oversight for operations related to the North Carolina Local Health Department accreditation board benchmarks and related regulatory standards. CRC members are assigned accreditation activities and have the responsibilities of collecting and submitting evidence either directly into the dashboard or to the Agency’s Accreditation Coordinator (AAC). The CRC is committed to completing, tracking, and maintaining activities and processes in preparation for the agency reaccreditation. It is also the role of this group to provide an understanding to all staff about why accreditation is important and how to ensure quality on a continual basis.
The purpose of the QIC is to provide a forum for staff representatives from all areas of the DCDHHS to initiate, implement and support continuous quality improvement. The QIC reviews bright ideas submissions, suggested QI projects, review reports from QI teams, make QI assignments, establish QI teams, prepare and make reports for the leadership team. The QIC oversees QI projects within the DCDHHS. The QIC supports agency activities to enhance the overall QI culture of the department. The QIC assists with assessing culture annually and making recommendations to improve culture. The QIC also reviews all survey data related to the agency’s satisfaction and feedback from staff including but not limited to client satisfaction survey reports, community input survey reports, staff feedback on supervisors reports, and annual culture assessment reports.
Both of these groups have critical roles in meeting standards and improving quality. Another thing they have in common is that they are both chaired by the AAC. The ACC ensures that the groups stay goal orientated and data driven. The ACC also provide guidance, updates, deadlines and assistance with every step in the accreditation process as well as quality improvement projects. This united approach has proven very effective for our agency to empower staff and ensure accountability.
Continuous Readiness Charter
Quality Improvement Council Charter
For more information contact Laura Williangham, AAC at lauraw@darenc.com
We Want to Hear From You
Share your tips and tricks for accreditation success with other local health departments across the state. If you have a tip or trick that you would like to share, send a summary -no more than 500 words including the activity addressed and any lessons learned. Please send your submission to NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu. Stories will be shared via these monthly highlights.