Program Development

Captus worked with the Renal Physicians Association (RPA) over a three-year period to plan, develop, and implement a strategic national patient safety initiative for people who receive dialysis treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This project involved working closely with an expert advisory committee, and partnering with a survey research organization and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to survey kidney patients (using a written questionnaire), and health professionals (using an online survey), to identify the highest priority safety issues.
Based on these findings, Captus worked closely with RPA to solicit best practices from the dialysis community and create an online resource, the Keeping Kidney Patients Safe Web site, for the exchange of the latest patient safety practices for ESRD. As the first-of-its-kind resource specifically for dialysis patients, this initiative has received widespread attention in the nephrology community.

A national child health promotion and wellness initiative, Bright Futures receives its primary funding from the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The initiative publishes the Bright Futures Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children and Adolescents, which is considered the gold standard of pediatric preventive care.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was tasked with revising and updating the third edition of the Bright Futures guidelines. AAP turned to Captus for health writing, reference research, and editorial assistance to produce the 600+ page publication.

This award-winning book, which was years in the making, provides a wealth of information, which Captus writers then adapted and repurposed into:

• A handy pocket guide for use by pediatric residents and health providers
• Handouts on health promotion themes
• Fact sheets
• Newsletter content for the multidisciplinary audiences served by the Bright Futures initiative

Captus also led the redesign of the Bright Futures Web site including writing the content, developing monthly health promotion messages, and writing and producing videos to promote awareness of both the initiative and the third edition of the guidelines. Captus’ program development, writing, editing, Web site maintenance, strategic planning services, and support are ongoing for this important child health promotion initiative.

Working closely with a strategic planning group convened by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), Captus facilitated the development of a national initiative to identify and prevent childhood overweight and obesity. This process involved multiple planning and working group sessions over several years to document the state of the science and to develop strategies and guidance that the pediatric community could immediately put into practice. Captus provided writing, design, and layout for the publication, Identifying and Preventing Overweight in Childhood, Clinical Practice Guideline, which was published as a special supplement in NAPNAP’s Journal of Pediatric Health Care.