Conference attendees, contributors, and organizers of the 3rd International Conference on Practice Facilitation (ICPF), held June 26 and 27, 2019 in Bethesda, Maryland, are part of an international community of professionals who collaborate to promote the field of practice facilitation. With continued support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAP-CRG), this annual conference aims to recognize and address the needs of the professional community of practice facilitators (PFs) by advancing the science and best practices of facilitation.
Building on our success in 20171 and 2018,2 the 2019 conference was designed to include highly interactive and informative content, aligned with the main theme of “Practice facilitation in the context of community.” The 2019 sessions were constructed based on peer-reviewed abstracts that encompass a great variety of contributions in 6 topic areas: (1) Developing Best Practices and Resources for Practice Facilitation, (2) Practice Facilitator Training and Ongoing Development, (3) Practice Facilitator Skill Building, (4) Sustaining and Managing Practice Facilitation Programs, (5) Advancing the Science of Practice Facilitation, and (6) Leveraging Technology in Practice Facilitation. Attendees represented more than 50 different organizations located in the United States and Canada and included 90 PFs, program managers, and scientists representing a range of experience and expertise.
Formal evaluations (from approximately 50% of the registrants) and informal feedback demonstrated high levels of satisfaction with conference content, structure, and composition of attendees. Participants’ reflections on the most valuable aspect of the conference included: “The networking and everyone’s willingness to collaborate,” and how the “relatively small [conference] meant quality” and commented that the “science and innovation in the field of practice facilitation, [and] tools being used that were shared were excellent.”
The first Plenary presentation on Day 1 was “Bridging Practices and Communities: A Week in the Life of a Practice Facilitator in Rural Colorado …?” with presenters Christin Sutter and Linda Zittleman, MPH highlighting the diverse activities that PFs engage in from working in practices, linking clinicians with local schools, to delivering community-based trainings. The remainder of the day included workshops and skill labs, oral presentations, and poster sessions on topics such as community outreach, innovations, technology, population health, best practices, quality improvement tools, and PF training and skills. The day wrapped up with a panel presentation facilitated by Carol Lange, MPH on “Primary Healthcare – Linking Practices to Community Health Resources,” followed by social and networking events including happy hour and dine-around groups.
On day 2, Steven Brantley, MPH, CCRP presented Plenary II: “Cross-Community Facilitation for Social Determinants of Health Screening and Referral in Oregon” which described efforts to engage diverse service providers (primary care, dental, social) in screening for patient needs related to housing, food security, and referral or navigation to services. Workshops, skill labs, and oral presentations were presented on themes such as peer skills assessments, community-based facilitation, and innovation and technology. An innovative session type —“The World Café” —was introduced and well received, garnering ratings from attendees as the most effective session. This closing session was highly interactive and provided everyone with another opportunity to circulate and share strategies around practice facilitation topics of interest.
Evaluation results and comments highlighted the new knowledge and skills that attendees plan to apply in their workplaces, such as patient and clinician engagement strategies, existing and virtual tools to track encounters, and conceptual frameworks. Others noted their intent to help build PF capacity through community engagement and use of resources as illustrated in these comments: “[I hope to] be more aware of community needs and connect to providers those resources needed for patients;” and “[I plan to] look into resources given at conference and implement them in facilitation.”
The ICPF provides excellent networking opportunities and helps to develop leaders in the application, management, and study of practice facilitation. Through the PF Learning Community, ICPF participants have an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the development of a new healthcare profession. Attendees were generally positive about participating in this effort and noted that the ICPF structure, flow, and content provided opportunities to strengthen interpersonal relationships and engage in profession-building activities. We intend to continue to interact and share knowledge, resources, and expertise for PFs beyond the annual meetings. On behalf of the ICPF Steering Committee, we thank you and invite you to stay tuned for upcoming news and opportunities related to promoting the field of practice facilitation!
Plenary presentation videos are available on the NAPCRG website https://www.napcrg.org/conferences/icpf/pastconferences/overview/.
- © 2020 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
