The Public Health Foundation (PHF) worked with the Department of Public Health at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and its community partners to develop a population health driver diagram designed to improve the perinatal health system in East Tennessee with a focus on neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). NAS refers to the array of health issues that occur in a newborn that has been exposed to opiate drugs in utero and was identified as a target priority area for East Tennessee.
A population health driver diagram identifies primary and secondary drivers of a population health goal, and helps to promote alignment of activities across sectors to address community health challenges, such as NAS. Grounded in the belief that public health, healthcare, and other community stakeholders are more effective when they combine their efforts to address an issue than when they work separately, the population health driver diagram framework is being used collaboratively by these various stakeholders to address a variety of community health goals and challenges. PHF has worked with community stakeholders in developing and using population health driver diagrams to address population health issues such as
antibiotic stewardship,
oral health,
diabetes, and
vector control.
The
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Driver Diagram was developed as a collaboration among 25 community stakeholders.
Dr. Jack Moran, PHF’s Senior Quality Advisor, helped to faciliate a stakeholder meeting to identify the AIM of the population health driver diagram, as well as primary and secondary drivers for achieving that stated AIM. Once the group of interdisciplinary community members had come to consensus about the AIM and drivers for the driver diagram, the completed draft of the driver diagram was distributed by the group members to their colleagues in the community for feedback. The identified primary drivers were utilization of care, integration of services, and healthy behaviors and supporting environments.
This population health driver diagram may help community stakeholders identify and implement interventions that are aligned across sectors to address the issue of perinatal health and NAS in their community. With the population health driver diagram as a guide, the group of stakeholders can select and align interventions to achieve improvement related to the AIM statement.
To learn more about population health driver diagrams, contact Micaela Kirshy at
[email protected].
Want to Develop and Use a Population Health Driver Diagram in Your Community?