I’ve done some benchmarking in the past year. Several months ago I had set up a tour of another big urban Family Medicine clinic in our city, one whose focus is to serve the underserved (as is ours), but that seems to be more innovative in doing so. One of the things that amazed me about the place- besides the fact that all providers are bilingual in either Spanish or Hmong- is its commitment to offering facilitated peer groups. They offer all kinds of groups for people with all kinds of chronic conditions. Diabetic cooking classes. Salsa dancing for weight loss. Asthma management groups. The only offering that was not well-received, they told me, was a group for women with depression.
Another “sister” clinic offers a smoking cessation group, prenatal programs, nutrition classes, weight loss, and a diabetic group.
We ourselves have had a group for diabetic patients for a couple years now, and recently piloted a prenatal group- the nurse that works with the prenatal group was happy with how it worked out. “They call each other!” she told me today. Certainly, it did look like the pregnant ladies were having a good time- and learning- in their meetings. I can’t help but think that peer groups are the way to go: mutually supportive people coping with similar situations, able to share their own solutions to problems.
I put together a proposal for a six-week stress-management group that we could offer in January and February, the darkest and coldest and most post-holiday time of year here; we’ll see if it is deemed feasible. It could be fun. I certainly hope so!
Tags: chronic conditions, groups, Nursing
