Beaverton Clinic Corner
VG Beaverton completed the transition to Primary Care Renewal in the fall and now have four teams in place; three family practice teams and one pediatric team. It has been an adjustment learning how to work in teams, according to clinic manger Tran Miers, especially when the case load continues to increase.
“The team dynamic takes time,” said Miers “and we’re trying to give our teams the tools they need to work together most effectively.”
One of those tools is a quality improvement model where the staff can actually measure their team’s improvement. Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, or PDSA, teams set an improvement goal, collect data, analyze their findings and make changes according to what they have learned. Two of the VG Beaverton teams are gathering baseline data on depression screening in their first implementation of the PDSA model. Eventually they will be able to measure results to see if what they are doing is working.
(Pictured at right, Tran Miers and former Virginia Garcia staff members.)
“It’s exciting to see our teams begin to understand how to measure improvement,” said Miers
“It also gives me a way to measure how I’m doing; to see how I can improve in providing tools and training for my staff.”
This past year, the Beaverton clinic has been fortunate to have added a behavioral health specialist to the staff. Dr. Landon Poppleton (see Provider Profile) has become an integral part of each team in delivering care.
“The best care can’t happen without input from the patient,” according to Miers “and having a behaviorist on the team means the patient gets more involved in their own care.”
Beaverton is also fortunate to have added two new pediatricians; Joy Eberhardt who joined Virginia Garcia in August 2009 and Amy Benson who started in January of this year.