C promotion of best practices various strategies can

C. Promotion of Best Practices
Various strategies can be employed to enhance depression management in clinical
practice. Staff education on depression and the strategies to manage it can improve knowledge
and awareness of depression, thereby improving the ability of healthcare professionals to manage
the condition more effectively. Ensuring that patients with depression are referred to appropriate
mental specialty care is also important in ensuring they receive the best expertise care.
Development and implementation of depression treatment guidelines within the organization can
reduce care fragmentation and improve the quality of care for depressed patients (Unutzer &
Park, 2012). Another strategy that can be used to improve depression management is
collaborative care. In this strategy, the healthcare professionals work together in a collaborative
care team to augment depression management. I would use this approach in my facility by

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including the care manager in pro-active and close follow-up, patient education, and evidence-
based, brief psychosocial treatments, including problem solving and behavioral activation. The
care manager would promote this in our facility (Unutzer & Park, 2012).
C1. Strategies to Implement Best Practices
The strategies that will be used to implement the intervention include staff education,
multidisciplinary collaboration, and mentorship. It will be imperative to plan teaching sessions
for members of the team in regard to implementation (Spruce, 2015). Staff education strategies
can be implemented through training programs as part of in-service continuous professional
development. Case reviews can be used during staff education to help staff identify their
strengths and weaknesses in relation to depression management as well as help them come up
with an improvement plan. Treatment guidelines for depression can be translated into clear
operational manuals and job descriptions to ensure effective implementation (Unutzer & Park,
2012). Effective collaborative care should be based on stepped care principles whereby treatment
is stepped up, intensified or changed if patients do not show any signs of improvement as
expected. A stepped care approach improves the cost-effectiveness of care of depression through
focusing on limited resource use. Evidence has consistently demonstrated that collaborative
depression management is effective in improving the quality of patient care while minimizing
overall health care costs (Unutzer & Park, 2012). Mentoring less experienced staff on the
proposed implementation will be used to increase awareness and confidence and therefore ensure
effective implementation as proposed (Spruce, 2015).
C2. Evaluating Implementation Strategies
Evaluation of the effectiveness of these proposed strategies can be done during and after
their implementation to determine the outcome. Formative evaluation will be performed to

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ensure continuous assessment of intervention outcomes during implementation and to allow for
any modifications as appropriate. Counterfactual analysis will be used as a model to aid the