Translating the Evidence to Improve Older Adults’ Experience in a Care Coordination Program

Abstract

With a focus on health care value, nurse leaders can design and evaluate programs for care coordination using dimensions related to costs, health outcomes, and patients’ experience of care. This article identifies evidence related to care coordinators’ actions and attitudes, and what older adults do on their own to manage their experience in care coordination. By translating the findings, the author describes strategies that nurse leaders can implement to improve the experience of older adults in a care coordination program. With a focus on health care value, nurse leaders can design and evaluate programs for care coordination using dimensions related to costs, health outcomes, and patients’ experience of care. This article identifies evidence related to care coordinators’ actions and attitudes, and what older adults do on their own to manage their experience in care coordination. By translating the findings, the author describes strategies that nurse leaders can implement to improve the experience of older adults in a care coordination program. Jean Scholz Mellum, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, is assistant professor at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Nurse Executives Fellowship Program. She can be reached at [email protected]