Monday, March 24, 2014

American Academy of Pediatrics is conducting an assessment of the strengths and gaps for early childhood service providers who access trauma-informed resources such as training and coaching


PLEASE PROVIDE INPUT ON TRAUMA-INFORMED TRAINING

Throughout Illinois, there are strong commitments to providing trauma-informed support and quality services for children and families at risk in many service sectors, including health care, mental and behavioral health, family support, home visiting, education, and legal. However, the likelihood is very remote that from one community to another or from one system to another, every early childhood service provider a) has access to training and other resources on trauma and toxic stress; b) is supported to implement best practices; and c) coordinates services with other systems interacting with the child and caregivers.

 

Promoting Resiliency of Trauma Exposed Communities Together (PROTECT) is the Illinois initiative to mitigate toxic stress and trauma in early childhood.  PROTECT will expand access to trauma-informed resources systemically and statewide, coordinate efforts among systems, and engage and work with families and communities exposed to trauma to build resilience.

 

As part of the PROTECT initiative, the Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics is conducting an assessment of the strengths and gaps for early childhood service providers who access trauma-informed resources such as training and coaching.  To this end, we request that you complete a survey located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KTL7N6L.  This survey will be available until April 4, 2014.  Your responses will aid PROTECT leadership  in creating  a picture of  existing professional development, policy and systems integration, and standards and protocols for becoming and maintaining trauma-informed practices.  Thank you.  For more information on PROTECT contact jbrewster@illinoisaap.com or 312/733-1026, ext 203.

Oracle update from HFS


Oracle is introducing a new version of JAVA on March 18, 2014. This version will be called Java 8 GA (8 update 0). DO NOT UPGRADE to this new version. Java 8 GA is not compatible with MEDI. The update will not allow any transactions to occur from the MEDI login page.

 

We have been told that this upgrade will not be forced out to users. If you do upgrade, you will need to uninstall the new version 8 and reinstall version 7, update 51.

 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Illinois Tobacco Quitline (ITQL)



Overview of service
The Illinois Tobacco Quitline (ITQL) is funded by the Illinois Department of Public in partnership with the American Lung Association.  They ITQL serves both reactive and proactive call schedules. This ITQL gathers demographic and minimal data set tobacco questions on all callers. Content of sessions is based on the callers’ readiness and stage of quitting. Education on FDA approved interventions and recommendations for use are discussed. FDA approved tobacco cessation interventions are arranged currently through sources approved. The ITQL staff have been trained in risk assessment questioning, counseling tobacco users with mental illness and in communicating to those with a diverse ethnic background. The ITQL currently provides individual tobacco cessation counseling along with mailed or electronic versions of educational and support material.


Background and relevant experience with tobacco cessation services.
Established in 2001, the ITQL is the only lung health information and smoking cessation program offered by ‘Lung Health Experts’ due to the partnership with the American Lung Association. The ITQL provides barrier-free access to tobacco-cessation services through ease of accessibility to tobacco cessation education, counseling and support when callers are motivated to quit.

Staffing
The ITQL staff are Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists, RN’s and or RRT’s and are trained in education of cessation and tobacco cessation interventions. Staff has attended training at the Mayo Clinic, New Jersey Medical and Dental School or Florida State University programs. Training has included addressing stages of change, motivational interviewing and recommended treatment for nicotine dependence. Many staff are also ancillary medical professionals and have backgrounds in previous counseling and health education with multiple years of clinical experience.

Intake
The ITQL intake and enrollment utilizes the Minimal Data Set Assessment recommended by North American Quitline Consortium. Caller and household disease status is also tracked. We currently evaluate a callers tobacco history, use, past use of products,  flying, PRP, PSP status, deployment status, rank, branch of service, medication and risk assessment questionnaire for making recommendations about each cessation product and appropriate use. The ITQL offers live answer reactive and counselor initiated proactive calls. Calls in queue transfer to live answer Intake Specialists.

Counseling
Our staff provides cessation counseling and relapse prevention to eligible clients. A tobacco cessation counselor works with each individual to develop a detailed tobacco cessation plan best suited to that person's tobacco habits and lifestyle. Each caller will receive individualized counseling and subsequent information outlining the tobacco cessation process.


Evaluation

During the National Conference on Tobacco or Health and the National Quitline Consortium meetings July 2012, details were presented on “industry standards” for follow- ups.  The recommendation is as follows:
Conduct follow-up seven months following enrollment.  This recommendation builds upon the existing MDS (minimal data set) system and has the advantage that a majority of cessation programs already conduct follow-up at this time.  This recommendation corresponds well to the six month time point recommended by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) workgroup while also allowing an initial one month grace period to initiate both treatment and a quit attempt. 

Over the past few years, we had been promoting and implemented follow up calls at 3, 6 and 12 months post a self-reported quit date. We now make a 7 month follow up call to all callers enrolled in the program regardless of quit status during calls to the Helpline. This now aligns with the industry standard. Our follow up data set mirrors the recommendation set forth by Department of HHS/CDC in the Quit line Resource Guide.

Hours of Operation
The Illinois Tobacco Quitline operates 24 hours with live voice answer. Counseling is available 7 a.m. – 11 p.m. CST, seven days a week. Current phone technology provides multiple call routing to available staff, call queue monitoring, queued call back, on hold messaging and voice mail capabilities.