Identify DRIVE Champions – COVID‑19
For a successful DRIVE program, Champions need to be identified.
A Champion can be ANY individual who has the determination and enthusiasm to address a health need or improve a health issue in a clinical area.
Champions are responsible for leading, understanding, managing, planning, collecting data, and implementing the DRIVE program, as well as training and communicating with staff as the quality improvement (QI) project is being activated in their practice, system, or community.
In general, there are usually 2 or 3 individuals serving as Champions to lead a DRIVE program. At least one of these individuals needs to serve as a medical lead, such as a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. Typically for a DRIVE program, Champions consist of a physician or advanced practitioner lead, along with a non-physician individual.
Launch with the DRIVE Team
Health systems, community-based organizations, and practices can begin to establish a foundation for the DRIVE program in their practice, system, or organization by guiding their teams to address the following:
- Acquire and/or assess data on the local, county, and state levels for COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations
- Establish regular opportunities to meet with the team via telecommunications (eg, telephone, videoconferencing) or in-person
- Develop safe methods of communicating with the full staff, system, organization, and community that consider mask wearing, and social/physical distancing
- Identify people with particular expertise in the clinical topic, regional resources and data, QI and community engagement as knowledgeable project leaders (eg, QI chief, COVID-19 researcher, infectious disease physician, local and/or state epidemiologist, community leader, etc)
- Solve problems that may underpin underperformance (eg, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for clinics, lack of knowledge/understanding of CDC guidelines)
- Ensure alignment with healthcare system practices, public health guidance, and community priorities and resources (eg, leader ensures the practice is aligned with the COVID-19 health outcomes goals of the health system or the community’s public health needs)
- Enable the potential expansion of the DRIVE program beyond early efforts