Community Health Worker

Community Health Workers are allied health personnel who are "trained to assist professional health personnel in communicating with residents in the community concerning needs and availability of health services."

Proposed categories are:

• Peer community health workers (PCWH). "They are lay workers with functional relationships with clients or potential patients. PCHWs aim to affect client self-care that does not involve visits to a clinician or healthcare institution. Their training and supervision typically come from community-based organizations rather than formal health care institutions."
• General community health workers (GCWH). "They aim to affect both patient behavior and patient–clinician relationships. They are not ordinarily supervised by clinicians nor are they hired employees of healthcare institutions, but they tend to know and communicate formally with clinicians or health care systems, as well as with clients."
• Clinical community health workers (CCHW). "They serve on complex care teams, often as employees of a specific health care agency, institution, or system. They aim to affect client relationships and behaviors within those organizations. They may hold certification or training offered by a health care system to improve care or health outcomes for the population. Even as most of their time may be spent moving throughout the community, CCHWs may be based in a health care facility such as a Federally Qualified Health Center." An example is community pharmacy workers, which can be effective.
• Heath navigator (HN). "They are degreed professionals with a variety of special training and formal credentials. Nurses often fill the HN role. They may perform CHW functions; they also may deliver health care services directly, as they supervise the ongoing activities of CHWs. HNs are hired by a health care system and are not assigned a specific case load but are population focused."

See also

• Health care
• Health care in the United States