title: A customer service approach to implementing a best practice at community health centers.
abstract: It is important that strategies for implementing evidence-based best practices into clinical care are developed and tested. This is particularly true for community health centers (CHCs), which are a primary source of care for low-income patients. This article focuses on a customer service approach to implementing best practices in CHCs. The approach was designed to be responsive to the tremendous demands on and limited resources of CHC staff. The CHC staff were the customers of the project while the project team played a supportive role, acting as a full-service vendor to identify and meet staff needs. Although a tobacco system was the focus of this project, it is applicable to implementing in clinical settings generally, regardless of the particular health topic.
authors.affiliation: External Affairs, Primary Care Development Corporation, New York, NY 10007, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruland
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D002140:California; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000208:ethnology*