“Why do you think teens might sometimes feel uncomfortable accessing health care?” a teen asked a room full of health care staff and providers at a recent Eye-to-Eye training in Bend, Oregon. “As an adult ally, it’s important that you develop skills to increase your comfort talking with youth. Your comfort will help them feel more willing to talk about critical health care topics.”
The goal of the youth-led training – hosted by the Oregon Health Authority Transformation Center and facilitated by the Oregon School-Based Health Alliance and Statewide Youth Action Council – was to teach health care providers how to better communicate with youth. When teens trust their health care providers, teens are more likely to get regular check-ups and visit their providers when needed. Topics included in this training were confidentiality, barriers and unconscious bias.
“Youth are incredibly aware and sensitive to judgements and body language,” said Natalie Fossoy, a council member and student at Century High School in Hillsboro. “When youth go in for an appointment, they need someone to play on their team and support them – not a coach that critiques their choices.”
This training was part of a technical assistance series the OHA Transformation Center is providing to coordinated care organizations (CCOs) and clinics for improving adolescent well-care visit rates for youth ages 12-21. CCO partners requested Eye-to-Eye as one way to boost skills in their communities.
“[Having youth trainers was a] novel approach,” said Megan Barton, a family nurse practitioner from Hood River. “Getting the adolescent perspective was not something I ever thought about. This made a huge impact.”
The youth were optimistic about the providers’ responses. “I really felt like my voice was heard and that many biases and stigmas were stared in the face,” said Meg Feely, a council member and biochemistry student at Portland State University. “Topics like heteronormativity, monogamy and sexuality are touchy but need to be talked about.”
As a result of the trainings, participants said their CCOs and clinics plan to focus on adolescent-specific care, share the information with providers, seek youth input and recruit teens to their community advisory councils.
An additional Eye-to-Eye training for CCOs and clinics is scheduled for November 18 in Grants Pass.
For more ways the Transformation Center is supporting CCOs working to improve incentive metrics, see: www.oregon.gov/oha/Transformation-Center/Pages/Resources-Metric.aspx
This technical assistance is funded through Oregon’s State Innovation Model grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
