Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

113 Strategies
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Retail clinics

Establish clinics in retail stores that provide basic services for minor illnesses (e.g., sore throats or skin conditions) and procedures (e.g., immunizations, pregnancy testing, routine lab tests); also known as retail pharmacy, walk-in, or convenient care clinics
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Rural training in medical education

Expand medical school training and learning experiences focused on the skills necessary to practice successfully in rural areas
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Rural transportation services

Establish transportation services for areas with low population densities using publicly funded buses and vans on a set schedule, dial-a-ride transit, volunteer ridesharing, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Clinical care
  • Housing and transportation
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Budgets
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

School dental programs

Provide sealants, fluoride treatment, screening, and other preventive dental care on school grounds via partnerships with dental professionals
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

School-based health centers

Provide health care services on school premises to attending elementary, middle, and high school students; physical and mental health services provided by teams of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Education
  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Shared use agreements

Create contracts that support community access to existing public, private, or nonprofit facilities before or after business hours; also called joint use, open use, or community use agreements
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Social media for civic participation

Support individual and group use of internet-based tools to receive news, communicate or share information, collaborate on ideas, mobilize networks, and make collective decisions
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

State-level minimum nurse staffing requirements for nursing homes

Establish state level regulations that require nursing homes to employ at least a set number of licensed and non-licensed nursing staff, often set in terms of staff hours per resident day
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms