Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Vaccines for Children was designed to ensure that eligible children do not contract vaccine-preventable diseases because of inability to pay for vaccine.
Impact: Racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination coverage between non-Hispanic white children and children of other groups have declined for vaccines that have been recommended since 1995. By providing increased access, VFC has increased protection for all children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The mission of Healthy Kids Express Dental is to improve oral healthcare in children through education on the importance of regular brushing, flossing, and using fluoride as well as through restorative treatments when necessary.
Impact: During the 2014-2015 school year, children pre-Kindergarten through 7th grade saw their average score on a dental knowledge test rise from 64.7% on the pretest to 72.1% on the posttest.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends provider reminders—when used alone or when combined with additional interventions—to increase vaccination rates among people of all ages from different populations or settings.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends school and organized child care center-located vaccination programs based on strong evidence of effectiveness in increasing vaccination rates, and in decreasing rates of vaccine-preventable disease and associated morbidity and mortality.
The updated CPSTF recommendation is based on findings from 27 studies in which vaccination programs in schools or child care centers:
-Provided vaccinations on site
-Were administered by a range of providers including school health personnel, health department staff, and other vaccination providers
-Were delivered in a variety of different school and organized child care settings
-Delivered one or more of a range of vaccines recommended for children and adolescents, and
-Included additional components such as education, reduced client out-of-pocket costs, and enhanced access to vaccination services
School- and organized child care center-located vaccination programs may be most useful in improving immunization rates among children and adolescents for new vaccines, and vaccines with new, expanded recommendations (such as the annual immunization for seasonal influenza) where background rates are likely to be very low and improvements in coverage are needed.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: Vaccination programs in WIC settings include the following:
-Assessment of infants’ and children’s immunization status
-On-site vaccinations or referral to vaccination providers
-Additional interventions such as client reminder and recall systems, manual tracking and outreach efforts, or adoption of monthly voucher pickup schedules that require more WIC visits when vaccinations are not up-to-date
Vaccination services may be provided in WIC clinics, or through collocation and coordination of WIC programs with other healthcare services.
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends vaccination programs in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) settings—when used with additional components--to increase vaccination rates among children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends standing orders for vaccinations—when used alone or when combined with additional interventions—to increase vaccination rates among adults and children from different populations or settings.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The initial goal of the PMDB development project was to: enable registry staff to collect, store, and easily retrieve large volumes of provider data; accelerate provider recruitment and enrollment by allowing for more organized, effcient outreach; improve provider retention by improving the quality and timeliness of follow-up; and allow registry management to quickly assemble meaningful data for program and staff evaluation.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity
Goal: The mission of ACT!vate Omaha is to create awareness, advocacy and excitement about activity and the importance of designing our community for active lifestyles.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Families
Goal: The goal of Care-A-Van is to provide access to medical care for uninsured and impoverished working families.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults
Goal: To increase attendance rates and decrease transportation-related barriers to outpatient PT clinic patients.
Impact: When patients were offered a van service, attendance rates increased at the physical therapy clinic.