Success Stories

2005-2006 SEPHLI Scholar Sees Accreditation Through in North Carolina

Raleigh, NC -- In the March 2007 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Executive Brief, NC State Health Director, Dr. Leah Devlin, was recognized for her commitment to seeing the North Carolina Division of Public Health accredited. The timing could not be better as local public health departments in North Carolina gear up for state-wide accreditation efforts.

Much of this success can be attributed to the NC Department of Public Health Head (NC DPH) of the Office of Performance Improvement and Accountability, Denise Pavletic, LDN, RD, MPH (right). Denise, 2005-2006 SEPHLI Scholar, has been working tirelessly to see through the development and implementation of this state pilot accreditation program. This pilot project is also the topic of Denise's final leadership project with SEPHLI.

An innovative initiative like this does not happen over night. The pilot project began in June 2005 with a charge from the state to design a self-assessment instrument. After almost two years of assessment review and preparation, the state department hosted their first accreditation site visit on February 28, 29, and March 1, 2007.

It goes without saying that a project of this magnitude does not necessarily begin with complete buy-in from all of those it impacts. "The most challenging aspect of my project was compelling the division to make an adaptive change, i.e., getting the staff to understand the importance of the accreditation work we are doing not only from a national perspective, but from a performance improvement perspective… It [took] much persuasion to get staff buy-in," Denise writes in her leadership project report.

When asked how SEPHLI helped her to get where she is today, Denise says, "A year and a half later, having come full circle to a point where we are actively preparing for the site visit, I can say the various lessons learned through SEPHLI were definitely a contributing factor in making my project come to fruition."

In recent news, Denise's proposal entitled, "North Carolina infrastructure: A state level pilot accreditation" has been selected for a Poster presentation during the 135th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 3-7, 2007) in Washington, DC.

Read Denise's project | State Pilot Accreditation Tool

More information about the NC DPH site visit | More information about ASTHO

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