Monday, February 28, 2011

'Health coaching': One application for the Health Care Domains Model?

The following message from Helen Erickson (Univ. of Texas) was received through the Modeling and Role Modeling mail list MRM-L at LISTS.UFL.EDU. It is the patient education aspect of the post that is of interest to me as it highlights why I continue to champion Hodges' model near and far.

'Coaching' (in its various forms) is a potential application for h2cm which can be used explicitly by explaining the model to the (potential!) patient / carer, or implicitly used by the health care professional as an aide memoire - a conceptual framework.

More to follow as I referred to the matter of health care delivery vs. health education in my presentation and the delegates raised the question of applications of Hodges' came up in Paipa last week.
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Good afternoon,

Some of you know that the healthcare bill signed last year (HR3590) includes a section aimed at revamping the healthcare system from a disease model to a health promotion, disease prevention. Section 4001 particularly addresses care for those on Medicaid and Medicare. A national advisory committee is being named to study this, make recommendations, etc (see Section 4001). Among the representatives of specific groups (orientation to health care) being named to the advisory group is the "health coach".

STTI and ICN put out a manual on coaching a year or so ago, coupled with a short CE test. When I read the manual and took the test (it took about 10 minutes total), I discounted the movement, thinking that it was just another way to define what we call MRM. The only difference is that it requires some specific strategies and skills, most of which I've discussed with you through the years, e.g. contracting, The other difference will be determined by what happens at the national scene. It is possible that "coaching" will be reimbursed. Many think that it will, thus the national group out of Harvard, the University of MN, and others are meeting, talking, defining the construct, etc.

As Chair of American Holistic Nurses' Certification Corporation, I have been drawn back to the topic repeatedly. Most recently, AHNCC has decided to actively explore certifying nurses who practice holistic health coaching, i.e.certifying a holistic health nurse coach. I have added a poll to the ahncc website, eager to learn if nurses are interested in the movement, etc. if you are interested in the website or want to express your position on health coaching, please visit ahncc.org.

Hope to hear from you,

Best to all,
Helen