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MCHwork: Transforming Learning

MCHwork: Transforming Learning

Session 1.2: Creating Opportunities to Improve Health Outcomes

MCHwork

Introduction

Working with stakeholders across settings to improve maternal and child health systems can be a complex process, but one critical to advancing health outcomes at national, state, and local levels. There are several discussion guides that allow us to:

  1. Reflect on priorities for what a well-functioning MCH system would look like
  2. Share experiences of structural and system-based factors that impact health outcomes in your setting
  3. Identify root causes and meaningful opportunities for improvement in your setting

The purpose of this is to identify opportunities to improve aspects of your MCH system to achieve better health outcomes. The process of developing an Opportunity Statement — a carefully-crafted one- or two-sentence summary to clarify the problem to be solved or opportunity at hand — follows a two-part process, beginning with individual brainstorming and moving to group discussion. It's important to include healthcare providers, family members, youth, and community members in this conversation to have a comprehensive and meaningful discussion.

MCHwork provides a jump start to developing Opportunity Statements through a Ready-Set-Go approach. Use the following resources to start your learning, dig deeper, and move from knowledge to practice.

READY: Creating Opportunities for System Improvement — Understanding Root Causes

Before writing Opportunity Statements, we need to understand the systems we want to improve and identify root causes of challenges. Watch this video from the National MCH Workforce Development Center about the Iceberg Model of Systems Thinking:

Resources from the MCH Navigator. Use these resources to dig deeper and understand how to implement what you've learned:

1. Understanding Systems. First, we need to quickly refresh ourselves on what systems are.

2. Finding Root Causes.The Iceberg Model shows how underlying structures affect visible outcomes. Three key resources explain this approach:

SET: Identifying Improvements for Your MCH System

An Opportunity Statement summarizes a problem or opportunity in one or two sentences. It helps focus on root causes rather than symptoms.Watch this introductory video from the National MCH Workforce Development Center to reflect on what a well-functioning MCH system would look like:

Resources from the MCH Navigator. Use these resources to dig deeper and understand how to implement what you've learned:

GO: Brainstorming Actions to Transform Your System and Improve Health Outcomes

Combining the Iceberg Model with Opportunity Statements is a way to brainstorm ways to improve health outcomes. When we “flip the iceberg,” we can envision a different purpose for the structures we identified and begin to plan comprehensive solutions. Watch this video from the National MCH Workforce Development Center:

Resources from the MCH Navigator. Use these resources to dig deeper and understand how to implement what you've learned:

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: Creating a Discussion Guide

A Discussion Guide is a structured conversation guide you can use with partners and collaborators across settings to:

  1. Analyze system factors affecting health outcomes
  2. Develop clear opportunity statements
  3. Create action plans for improvement

Key considerations before you begin:

 

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UE8MC25742; MCH Navigator for $225,000/year. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.