CC 101: Contextualizing Care for the Clinician

CC 101: Contextualizing Care for the Clinician

Topic:
Contextualizing Care
Format:
Online
Courses:
1
CE Credits:
Optional
Fee:
$10–20 USD

Overview

Contextualizing care, a clinical competency, is the process of adapting care to the circumstances and behavior of individual patients. The failure to do so, when it results in a suboptimal plan of care, is a contextual error. Contextual errors, which are common and often overlooked, adversely affect health care outcomes, and they contribute to overuse and misuse of medical services.

Through a series of five modules, you will acquire the knowledge, skills, and insight to systematically contextualize care during the medical encounter. You will also learn about the research evidence that contextualizing care has a measurable impact on patient outcomes and costs, and that clinicians improve with the instruction and feedback you will receive here. Finally, the course concludes by exploring the interpersonal dimensions of clinicians that facilitate contextualization of care.

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Describe key terms and concepts essential to contextualizing care during a clinical encounter.

  2. Apply key terms and concepts to clinical scenarios to contextualize care and avoid contextual errors. 

  3. Summarize research evidence on the impact of contextual errors and interventions to prevent them on health care service utilization and patient outcomes.  

  4. Characterize both the opportunities and limits of contextualized care planning to mitigate the adverse effects of social risk factors during the clinical encounter. 

  5. Theorize about the interpersonal qualities of clinicians who contextualize care. 

Lessons

  • Lesson 1: Basic Concepts
    You will learn how to apply the four-step framework for contextualizing care during a clinical encounter. 
     
  • Lesson 2: The Research Evidence for Contextualizing Care 
    You will learn how research on contextualization of care is conducted and what it’s shown. 
     
  • Lesson 3: Basic Skills Building and Assessment
    You will practice applying contextualization of care strategies to simulated cases.
     
  • Lesson 4: Applying Skills to Mitigate Social Determinants of Health
    You will learn to apply contextualization of care skills to mitigate effects of social determinants of health on adverse patient outcomes.
     
  • Lesson 5: Interpersonal qualities of clinicians who contextualize care 
    You will explore through self-reflection the personal characteristics of the clinician that facilitate contextualization of care. 
     

Continuing Education

Course completion typically earns 3 Continuing Education credits. Please read the full details to ensure that this course offers your desired credit type. Learn more about Continuing Education credits

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Jointly_Accredited

In support of improving patient care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

See full details

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement designates this internet enduring activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This activity may also be applicable for other professions that accept AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

This activity is approved to award 3 credit(s) toward Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) recertification.

Planning Committee

  • Saul Weiner, MD, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Disclosure: None of the planners, presenters, or staff for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. 

Subscriptions

This course is available in the following IHI Open School subscriptions:

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