Lesson Tag: SMA

SMAs have appeal to both patients and providers and are generally appealing to practice managers and primary care centre owners. Patient Appeal In the initial trial of SMAs in Australia, patients were asked to rate these questions on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 = ‘poor’ and 5 = ‘great’. Mean score ratings are shown […]

Objectives For the patient: To empower patients to become more involved in self-management of their own health To more effectively answer the patient’s questions and concerns To use peer support to motivate the patient to take action To increase the patient’s ‘health literacy’ To increase the patient’s satisfaction and enjoyment of the consultation experience Bottom […]

There are a number of advantages of SMAs for both patients and providers. A shortlist is provided below. (For more advantages see Noffsinger (2013) p. 14-17.) For Patients Improved quality of, and access to care Extra time with own health practitioner and more relaxed pace of care Peer support and feedback from patients with similar […]

SMA Models There are a number of different SMA models and these can be adapted (within reason) to the providing centre and team. The basic models are shown in the table below. ‘Programmed’ SMAs As well as ‘general’ SMAs that may be heterogeneous (e.g. different chronic diseases) or homogeneous (e.g. all diabetes, or heart disease […]

SMAs are suitable for most primary care clinics from single provider operations to super clinics. The main requirements are: Consulting rooms Facilitator Health Practitioner Documenter Space The clinic needs to have room to seat up to 12 people at a time (15 if staff are included and the group is optimal size). Because patients and […]

The SMA Team An SMA team can be made up of as many as 4-5 health professionals depending on the budget available and the topic being discussed. A bigger team might be used where an ‘expert’ in a particular area is brought into a group to discuss a special issue, such as a pharmacist to […]

An Alternative Form of ‘Skill’ There is a pressing need for consideration of a new form of managing chronic disease at the clinical level, which can: utilise peer support reduce patient waiting time allow more time with the health professional reduce repetition for the provider utilise the skills of other experienced health professionals provide greater […]

The Rationale for Shared Medical Appointments The provision of health services at the primary care level, by either a doctor or other health professional requires: knowledge skills tools Knowledge: Information about the determinants and causes of disease (see Appendix 1). Skills: Involves the techniques or processes which the provider of health care uses to affect […]

The usual process for SMA Facilitator certification is: Read through the online course content Watch the video recording OR attend a live face-to-face SMA workshop Complete the SMA Quiz Assignment: Submit a plan for your first SMA Enjoy!