Warden Orlando Harper announced today that a facility-wide Interdisciplinary Patient
Care program began earlier this week. Since August, the jail’s healthcare team had been conducting a
comprehensive nursing pilot program. The program’s success has resulted in the program’s expansion
to housing units on all levels of the facility.
“We know that many individuals committed to the jail have not had regular access to healthcare,
making the services provided at the jail even more important to their safety,” said Harper. “This new
approach to correctional healthcare at our facility, shepherded by our healthcare staff, will benefit all
those in our custody.”
The program was designed with a goal of streamlining the way healthcare is delivered at the jail to
increase speed and efficiency, maximize the use of resources, create stronger provider-patient
relationships, and improve patient outcomes. Modeled as an outpatient healthcare office, providers
assess physical healthcare needs of individuals. When serious health concerns arise, individuals are
seen in the jail’s medical clinic the same day. Administrators and staff members hold weekly meetings
to provide feedback and assemble data.
Through the jail’s contract with Allegheny Health Network (AHN), the program brought together both
AHN providers and county-employed practitioners from different disciplines to form a collaborative
approach to provide comprehensive, individualized care for each patient. The team included a physical
health provider and a behavioral health provider from AHN, and a licensed practical nurse, a mental
health specialist, and a correctional officer from the county who all worked together.
With the expansion of the program, a healthcare team is assigned to every level of the facility to
improve communication with and treatment of individual patients. Rather than operating from a
centralized location in the jail, every level will have a dedicated healthcare team that works together in
their respective disciplines to ensure continuity of care, reduce wait times, and coordinate clinical
needs.
“We pulled together staff to determine the most effective way to serve patients, to ensure access to
care quickly and to make sure issues are resolved as soon as possible,” said Dr. Ashley Brinkman, the
jail’s Health Services Administrator. “We found very successful outcomes and positive feedback from
both our staff and our patients.”
The Interdisciplinary Patient Care model is utilized extensively in various community-based healthcare
systems, and the jail’s pilot program sought to bring this model to its correctional healthcare system.
The team-based approach of the interdisciplinary model is based on effective communication and
collaboration, while placing the patient at the center of the process.
Original source can be found here
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