You've Got a Friend
With apologies to James Taylor, I was recently introduced to a UNC-Chapel Hill professor of psychology, Dr. Edwin Fisher, from my alma mater and the university where the famous singer/ songwriter's father was dean of the School of Medicine. The work that Dr. Fisher is doing under the aegis of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation is on target for the Triple Aim.
Peers for Progress, designs, implements, and evaluates peer coach or peer educator programs worldwide. There are ample examples of successful and established programs led or facilitated by peer coaches, motivators, educators, or others, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Mended Hearts, and Weight Watchers. Peers for Progress is building a global network of peer-support organizations that are making a difference in the health of and lives of people affected by a range of health problems and their associated impact on the individual and on communities.
Peer support / peer coaching is truly a winning proposition with benefits to the coached, to the coaches, to better health and health care, and the price is right!
Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, FACP, is associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey — Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.