FirstCarolinaCare Employees Receive Health Coach Certification
| Date Posted: 1/31/2012
PINEHURST- Several employees of FirstCarolinaCare Insurance Company have started the new year off on a positive note by completing a Health Coach Certification course through the National Society of Health Coaches.
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FirstCarolinaCare nurses visit job sites every three to six months to provide one-on-one opportunities for members with chronic conditions to ask questions and receive educational information. The newly certified staff will now be more hands on with their members, giving patients the chance to become more active in their own care. The FirstCarolinaCare Health Coaches, who are already helping patients meet their goals, are pictured (from left) as follows: Carolyn Davis, LPN; Kevin Overton, BSN; Joyce Taylor, R.N.; Cindy Hardee, R.N.; Gale Baker, LPN and Mary Mabe, R.N. Elise McInnis, PharmD, was not available for the photograph. |
To complete the certification, the staff attended a workshop instructed by a certified health coach, completed a series of online classes and passed a required certification test. Employees who received their certification included Gale Baker, LPN; Carolyn Davis, LPN; Cindy Hardee, R.N.; Mary Mabe, R.N.; Elise McInnis, PharmD; Kevin Overton, R.N.; and Joyce Taylor, R.N.
Through the online courses, the staff was trained on health care-related topics such as evidence-based coaching, communication techniques, motivational interviewing and how to measure health coaching outcomes.
“Our members are more likely to change their lifestyles if they are able to set their own goals that are important to them rather than goals set by their physicians or nurses,” said Mary Mabe, director of Health Services for FirstCarolinaCare.
The newly certified nurses and pharmacist will have the opportunity to be more hands on with their members, which in turn gives the patients the chance to become more active in their own care. FirstCarolinaCare Health Coaches are already using their new techniques to help patients meet their goals.
FirstCarolinaCare holds employee health screenings annually at each member job site with the exception of employers who sponsor incentive programs that are held biannually. Mabe explained that nurses also visit job sites every three to six months to provide one-on-one opportunities for members with chronic conditions to ask questions and receive additional educational information.
The National Society of Health Coaches certification program was developed by clinicians and created to help clinicians, health care providers and practitioners in assisting, and coaching, patients. It is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the International Coaching Federation.
