How can you manage cross-functional teams for a patient advocacy project with high uncertainty?
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Patient advocacy is the act of representing the interests and needs of patients, especially those who are vulnerable, marginalized, or facing barriers to access quality health care. As a patient advocate, you may be involved in various projects that aim to improve the health outcomes and experiences of your target population. However, these projects often involve high uncertainty, as you may have to deal with complex problems, changing contexts, and multiple stakeholders. How can you manage cross-functional teams for a patient advocacy project with high uncertainty? Here are some tips to help you plan, execute, and evaluate your project effectively.
Before you start your project, you need to have a clear and realistic vision of what you want to achieve and why. This will help you align your team members, who may come from different backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives, around a common purpose. You also need to define the scope of your project, which includes the specific activities, deliverables, resources, and timelines that you will work on. Having a well-defined scope will help you avoid scope creep, which is the tendency to add more features or tasks that are not originally planned or agreed upon.
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Patrick Paul
Here are some key strategies to consider: Establish clear goals and objectives. Foster open communication and collaboration. Embrace agile methodology. Promote transparency and accountability. Empower team members and leverage expertise. Emphasize patient-centered approach. Celebrate successes and recognize contributions. Remain flexible and adaptable.
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Kunta Gautam, PhD(c), NP, MPH
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
First of all, identify your population, study your population, and know your population well. For example, if your population is children with autism: - You have to study autism first. - Age group of the children. - Demographics of the families, which include the education level of parents, annual household income, and number of children with special needs in the family. - Identify the barriers to healthcare in your focused population. - Identify the problem that needs your advocacy.
Communication and collaboration are essential for any project, but especially for those with high uncertainty. You need to establish frequent and transparent communication channels with your team members, as well as with other stakeholders, such as patients, health care providers, policymakers, or funders. You also need to foster a culture of trust, respect, and feedback, where everyone can share their ideas, opinions, and concerns without fear of judgment or conflict. You can use various tools and methods to facilitate communication and collaboration, such as online platforms, meetings, workshops, surveys, or focus groups.
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Kunta Gautam, PhD(c), NP, MPH
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
-Set your goals and objectives. -Identify the necessary stakeholders or interdisciplinary teams that are required for collaboration. -Schedule collaborative meetings and workshops to plan interventions to meet the objectives. For autism: contact health insurance providers, developmental specialists, clinical psychologists, licensed therapists, case managers, and social workers. Follow through with the outcome received from these meetings.
One of the main challenges of managing a project with high uncertainty is that you may encounter unexpected changes or uncertainties along the way. These could be related to the problem you are trying to solve, the context you are operating in, the needs and preferences of your target population, or the availability and quality of your data and evidence. Instead of resisting or ignoring these changes, you need to embrace them as opportunities to learn and improve your project. You can use agile or iterative approaches, such as Scrum or Lean Startup, to test your assumptions, validate your solutions, and incorporate feedback and data into your decision-making process.
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Kunta Gautam, PhD(c), NP, MPH
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
There might be some uncommon situations or unique challenges related to possible cultural differences, language barriers, different belief systems, or the housing environment of the focused groups or families with autism. These challenges may require revisiting and revising the strategies that were planned. Patient advocacy can be an ongoing process where a patient advocate steps forward to meet these challenges and create modifications as needed.
Another challenge of managing a project with high uncertainty is that you may not have a clear or predefined way to measure your project outcomes and impacts. However, evaluation is crucial for any project, as it helps you assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and sustainability of your project. It also helps you demonstrate your value and accountability to your stakeholders and funders. You can use various frameworks and methods to evaluate your project, such as logic models, theories of change, outcome mapping, or social return on investment. You can also use qualitative and quantitative data sources, such as interviews, surveys, case studies, or indicators.
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Kunta Gautam, PhD(c), NP, MPH
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
Suppose the project aims to have 100 % of autistic children receive care at the autism center. In that case, the patient advocate must evaluate the project outcome based on the number of children attending the autism center. A successful outcome can be achieved by creating awareness among the families and eliminating the barriers.
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Finally, managing a project with high uncertainty can be stressful and demanding, but also rewarding and fulfilling. You and your team members have invested a lot of time, energy, and resources into your project, and you deserve to celebrate and share your successes and learnings. You can use various ways to celebrate and share your project, such as events, publications, reports, or social media. You can also use these opportunities to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions and achievements of your team members and other stakeholders. By celebrating and sharing your project, you can also inspire and influence others to join or support your patient advocacy efforts.