Health Promotion Program Follow-Up.

The keys to a successful health promotion program are persistent one-on-one outreach and follow-up counseling to encourage health improvement, adherence to treatment regimens, changes in lifestyle behaviors, and to prevent relapse.

Periodic outreach and follow-up procedures provide staff with a safety net which keeps them involved in the wellness program and prevents treatment dropout and relapse.

Counselors ought to follow up on staff at least every 6 months throughout the career of the worker at the worksite.  The goals of follow-up are to -

o  Involve staff who’ve health risks in treatment and risk reduction programs.

o  Involve all staff in wellness programs and workplace-wide wellness activities.

o  Support workers in carrying out the risk reduction or health improvement activities they have chosen.

o  Make certain to help personnel follow their treatment regimens.

o  Avoid relapse.

o  Avoid workforce from dropping out.

o  Make sure to help personnel maintain behavior changes.

Follow-up may be conducted in person, by phone, mail, and via computer when the technology is available. Most preferable is an in-person contact.

Computer programs which can do case load management are available to help counselors track information and perform follow-up.

Priorities for Follow-Up

Individuals  with multiple health risks must be at the top of the list. Individuals  in key positions like union leaders or department heads with health risks should also be contacted early so that they learn what the health promotion program is about and can share the information with others.

People  who need a medical examination for high blood pressure or cholesterol should also be targeted early. A lot of workers will have seen their doctors then of the screening, but some will need more encouragement to do so. Those with no health risks can be followed up annually.

A follow-up counseling session can take 20 to 45 minutes.  At minimum, follow-up must include those who were told to seek medical evaluation for high blood pressure readings, high cholesterol readings, or borderline high blood cholesterol readings with 2 or more other risk factors.

It could include those who were identified as at-risk for one or more of the other major risk factors –  at-risk levels of alcohol consumption, being overweight, and having low HDL.

Follow-Up With Physicians

A letter (see forms) should be sent to the doctor or clinic of each staff member who’s high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or is under a doctor’s care.

The letter should explain the wellness program and should include the staff member’s relevant, current health measurements.

Along with the letter, send a self-addressed return envelope. Follow-up with the physician ought to be repeated every 6 months until it is determined that the staff member is under satisfactory control.

Contacting the physician is important for three reasons -

o  The physicians receive employees’ health measurements taken at the workplace.

o  You receive the blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol readings the physician takes and information on the treatment the physician prescribes.

Many times the employee doesn’t have this information or doesn’t remember it.  The information can be used when counseling the employee.

o  Follow-up encourages physicians to pay closer attention to heart disease risk factors among their patients.