Are you looking for ways to go from data collection to patient engagement in your social needs screening efforts? Are staff prepared to ask patients sensitive questions using a trauma-informed and strengths-based perspective? Oregon Primary Care Association developed Empathic Inquiry to guide professionals in developing a conversational approach for conducting social needs screening that promotes partnership, affirmation, and patient engagement. Empathic Inquiry contributes to a primary care environment that prioritizes whole-person health, focuses on connection over data collection, and helps busy health care professionals build patient-centered systems for delicate conversations.

This California Improvement Network webinar recording features Ariel Singer, community health center transformation director, and Stephanie Castaño, transformation manager, from the Oregon Primary Care Association discussing how the Empathic Inquiry approach was developed, lessons they have learned along the way, and advice for organizations interested in implementing social needs screening with patients at the center.  Toffer Lehnherr, health equity coordinator at Partnership Health Center in Montana, also shares how this approach has impacted his organization’s social needs screening efforts.

Objectives:

• Learn how Oregon Primary Care Association developed Empathic Inquiry through input from patients, evidence-based practice, and recommendations from clinical, operational, and frontline leaders.
• Gain insights into how to put patient-centered social needs screening into practice through both systems design and workforce training.
• Learn how one organization has adapted this approach into its workflows and the implications doing so had in this time of increased telehealth.