Program Development

How Does the CHIC Scale Help with Program Development?

The CHIC Scale is an excellent asset for anyone who creates or manages organizational healthcare programs. The versatility of the CHIC Scale supports a wide range of activities such as:

In addition to the assessment, there is additional content and ongoing research built around the CHIC Scale. This framework provides a rich source of structure and content that can be easily reconfigured to create momentum quickly or help sustain existing efforts in a variety of healthcare environments. The CHIC Scale framework provides real-world context and timely insights for understanding the essential elements that affect the ability to practice interprofessional collaboration well. Below are a few details for some of the applications related to program development.

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Staffing Education

During the development of the CHIC Scale it was observed that only 36.97% of the participants had formal training in interprofessional collaboration. While standards are changing for medical education and practice, there is still much work ahead. Many hospitals and clinics are struggling with balancing staff education and staff turnover. Training staff only to have them leave is a serious problem facing hospitals. This issue is compounded when staffing educators must run the same programs to get new employees up to speed while neglecting development opportunities for existing employees.

Trying to engage employees who are not ready or able to reciprocate is a wasted effort. Using a targeted approach could allow staffing education departments to produce advanced courses for employees who have the capacity for more collaborative materials and activities. This instrument can identify which staff are ready for more engagement in collaboration and which need intervention. Likewise, it can serve to identify which employees are overwhelmed and need access to additional resources.

New Programs

Finding new content for emerging programs can be intimidating. The CHIC Scale provides several pieces to bolster efforts to improve collaboration, clinical outcomes, and patient-centered care. In addition to the assessment component of the scale, there is background research available to supplement new program content.

Exisitng Programs

For programs that already address the role of interprofessional collaboration, the CHIC Scale offers several opportunities to reflect on the lessons or facilitate group discussions. The framework on which the scale is built provides a natural progression toward collaboration competency and maintenance of skills.

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Mentor Matching

In healthcare, the use of mentors is common. This practice may be an established employee overseeing a new hire or a student working under the direction of a seasoned professional. Like other forms of teaching, the act of mentoring can be done poorly or well. This instrument can determine which employees to select for additional mentoring roles.

Career Management

On the individual level, this instrument has considerable value as a tool for professional reflection. Provider satisfaction is a key part of improving healthcare outcomes. This instrument won’t improve provider satisfaction, but it may help to illuminate personal elements that affect it. The main score of the instrument provides a meaningful measure, and so do the scores of the individual factors. Examining how these scores relate to one’s practice may offer a source of clarity for professionals.

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