Measuring and Improving Results (continued)

Replication may be defined as both an activity and a result. As an activity it entails experience sharing, including knowledge dissemination; policy advice; regulatory, financial, and managerial design for a country, region, insurance plan, and provider network; and focused consulting for a specific replication site or community. As a result, replication is characterized by a variety of replicated care sites, programs, methods, and tools. Understandably, not all replication activities result in replication.

Replication in AIHA Partnerships

In the AIHA partnerships, Primary Healthcare Center provider facilities were found to be the most common replication objects during and immediately after the partnerships. The replication of Primary Healthcare Centers generally meant that each new clinic adopted practice guidelines and standards; staffing and equipment schedules; common elements of interior design; standard operating procedures; patient education programs and materials; quality control tools; and, selectively, practice management systems.

Why Design for Replication?

Why make the effort to build your Primary Healthcare Center on a model that can be replicated? Beyond just a desire to “help others” there are other benefits to consider for both your own center and any new centers you are assisting.

An important consideration is that the new Primary Healthcare Center can help support your long-term mission. For instance, on a broad scale, by establishing new Primary Healthcare Centers, you strengthen the primary healthcare system as a whole. This, in turn, can have numerous benefits—for example, governmental involvement or support can become strengthened, making it possible to pass certain laws or beneficial health mandates related to primary healthcare; or public support can be strengthened, resulting in new funding sources. On a smaller scale, assisting a new Primary Healthcare Center means you now will have a peer institution with which to share important data and information, which could prove to be an invaluable resource.

Learning from AIHA’s Women’s Wellness Centers

Helpful Resources
	Women's Wellness Centers Toolkit (external link)

AIHA partnership programs have also developed clinics focused exclusively on women and their healthcare needs. (AIHA has also created a Women’s Wellness Centers Toolkit.) When assessing the results of Women's Wellness Centers’ (WWCs) activities, two evaluation tools provided insight into their ability to provide quality health services—a Monthly Data Report and Patient Satisfaction Survey. The Report asks the following questions, which you may want to consider in monitoring and evaluating your Primary Healthcare Center. These questions include:

• Are WWCs (collectively and individually) serving sizable numbers of women of all ages?
• Are WWCs growing or at least maintaining a patient base over time?
• What is the predominant reason for visits to a WWC? And what's the next most common reason? Are there changes occurring over time?
• Are WWCs engaging in health promotion, educational and outreach activities that promote health and prevent disease (primary prevention)?
• Are WWCs providing a comprehensive range of secondary prevention services (or early disease detection) and primary care consistent with the WWC model (including health education and counseling, prenatal care, reproductive health services, and treatment of common problems)? What is the relative magnitude of services compared to each other?
• Are WWCs providing, and are women taking advantage of, specific secondary prevention measures, such as the screening tests and diagnostic procedures utilized for detecting specific health problems, such as cancers and STIs?
• Are screening and diagnostic procedures resulting in significant health problems being found, and are these problems being detected earlier as time passes?
• What are the most common forms of contraception selected by WWC users?
• Does the activity of specific WWCs suggest growth, maintenance, or decline over time?

For the most part, the WWC Data Report presents data related to the processes of delivering primary and secondary prevention services and primary care.

The other means of assessing results of WWC performance is the Patient Satisfaction Survey, which helps to assess the quality of care and WWCs' ability to serve women's health needs. Click here to access the survey.

Click here to continue reading about Monitoring & Evaluation.