The links below contained detailed information for the upcoming 2017 Safe States Alliance Annual Meeting, taking place September 12-14, 2017 in Aurora, Colorado.
Please note:
- A total of five concurrent sessions will take place during the Annual Meeting, and there will be up to five breakouts occurring simultaneously during each of those concurrent sessions. Within each breakout, there will be up to four presentations that take place.
- This online system does not allow us to embed the individual presentations within each breakout. Please note the session presentations listed under each Concurrent Breakout title for associated content.
- The on-site mobile app WILL embed these sessions for ease of use.
- A printable, detailed agenda can be found on the 2017 Annual Meeting website.
- If you have any questions, please contact info@safestates.org
- All session times and locations are tentative and subject to change. Safe States will continue to update these details as changes take place.
A Systems Approach to Injury Prevention: Connecting Programs, Processes, and People
Learning Objectives
1. Understand systems thinking and the ways in which it can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of injury prevention
2. Understand how and why participants in the Child Safety CoIIN are applying systems thinking
3. Begin mapping their work, or a component of their work, as a system
Statement of Purpose
Despite notable reductions in injury rates over the past three decades, gaps persist in the broad implementation of evidence-based injury prevention programs. Where these programs are being implemented, efforts are often small-scale and compete with one another for resources and audiences, leading to inefficiencies and limitations in reach and effectiveness. The application of systems thinking to injury prevention will enable the identification of gaps, redundancies, and opportunities that acted upon, can improve efficiency and effectiveness. Systems thinking can also lead to fewer silos, streamlined safety messages and activities, and increased adoption of proven interventions at state and local levels. For example, by mapping and analyzing systems for child passenger safety, states can ensure efficient use of available funds in purchasing and distributing as many car seats as possible.
Methods/Approach
The Children’s Safety Network will define the concept and explore the benefits of systems thinking using teachings from The Improvement Guide and real-world examples from the Child Safety Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network, a quality improvement initiative involving 17 states/jurisdictions. We will explain how to define their work as a system, such as identifying the purpose, people, resources and processes involved. Then we will engage participants in a hands-on systems mapping exercise in which participants define the components of the system and begin linking processes together.
Results
Equipped with examples such as the car seat purchasing, distribution, and installation system, and emergency room suicide screening, assessment, and referral system, and a map of their system, participants will have a deeper understanding of systems thinking and be ready to apply that approach to their work.
Conclusions & Significance to the Field
Applying a systems thinking approach in injury prevention can help practitioners recognize the connections among people, organizations, processes, and tasks, as well as between those who receive and provide injury prevention services. In defining strategies, coalitions, programs, or partnerships as a system, practitioners can identify areas ripe for improvement, such as gaps in services, redundancy, overlap, or waste and then take action to close those gaps.
Citation: Langley GL, et al. (2009). The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance (2nd Edition). San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Presenters
Rebekah Thomas, MPA, EDC
Biography
Bekah Thomas is the Director of CSN’s child safety Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network (CoIIN). Bekah has worked in the field of violence and injury prevention since 2007 at a variety of governmental, non-profit and international organizations, including the Boston Public Health Commission’s Division of Violence Prevention and the United Nations Development Program, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey.