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, Community / Transportation, Urban
Goal: The goal of METRO's HOV lane network is to reduce traffic congestion and promote ridesharing and the use of public transportation.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: As medicine becomes more complex and specialized by the minute, the communication gulf between doctors and their patients is becoming progressively insurmountable. The Stanford Internet-based Successful aging (iSAGE) project is a project aimed at improving quality of life and quality of care for all older Americans from diverse backgrounds. iSAGE offers an entirely web-based, video rich immersion training in the principles of successful aging for the general public as well as health workers. It is unique in that it allows learners to specialize in the health and health care of thirteen different ethno-cultural groups commonly seen in the US.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The end goal of The Living Room is to reduce recidivism to the hospital and pair those in need with the right resources to help them be able to handle their mental health crises and move away from using The Living Room. Additionally, a main goal of The Living Room is matching those in need with a particular peer specialist to create a lasting connection.
Impact: Connects individuals experiencing mental health illness or crises to peer specialists which help reduce recidivism to the emergency room or hospital, help manage future crises, and provide a connection to continued non-clinical support and resources.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Urban
Goal: To reduce the number of individuals with mental illness who use the ER, to help individuals achieve long-term recovery, and to develop a community peer-based support network.
Impact: The Living Room is a comfortable, non-clinical space that offers an alternative to hospital emergency rooms. The program in LaGrange, Illinois hopes to decrease unnecessary hospitalizations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The Louisiana Recovery Authority is working with Governor Blanco to plan for Louisiana's future, coordinate across jurisdictions, support community recovery and resurgence, and ensure integrity and effectiveness. Working in collaboration with local, state and federal agencies, the authority is addressing short-term recovery needs while simultaneously guiding the long-term planning process.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The MUSC Psychiatry Residency program has the following goals related to diversification of the health care professional pool:
- increased racial and ethnic diversity reflecting the general South Carolina population
- promotion of racial/ethnic and gender diversity in leadership positions within the School of Medicine
- promotion of cultural competency and understanding
- more opportunities within the College of Medicine at all levels for individuals from all backgrounds
Impact: The proportion of URM applicants to MUSC psychiatry residencies increased from 8% in 2008 to 17% in 2015. The percentage of URM psychiatry residents enrolled in MUSC has tripled over the last seven years, from 9% in 2008 to 28% in 2015.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: The Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction Coalition (MARR) seeks to improve the use of antimicrobial agents and reduce antimicrobial resistance rates in health care facilities and communities throughout the state of Michigan through the collaborative efforts of academic, community, government, labor and industry partners. MARR seeks to accomplish this mission by serving as a catalyst and facilitator for programs of judicious antimicrobial use, and providing such programs; maintaining a repository of current and credible information about antimicrobial resistance; and participating in clinical interventions and research that will ensure improved antimicrobial use and reduce antimicrobial resistance.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve standards of care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in Missouri.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: Launched in the fall of 2002, the plan, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight: Finding the Will and the Way, calls for a multilevel approach to reducing the number of overweight and obese children. It focuses not only on behavioral and interpersonal change, but also on the organizational, community, and societal changes necessary to support healthy eating habits and increased physical activity for children, teens, and their families.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Families, Rural
Goal: The Perfect 10 Project objective is to increase the initiation rates of breastfeeding to 84%, increase our duration rates of breastfeeding by 25% at 6 months to 35.8% (currently 28.6%), and 32.6% at one year (currently 18.1%).
Impact: There were 102 physician referrals from the Lower 8 counties for breastfeeding assistance in the first six months of 2016, 148 breastfeeding moms were helped through our after-hours hotline in the first six months, and 24 moms attended our Mommy & Me breastfeeding support group.