Hurley Medical Center

Transitioning to Patient and Family Centered Care

The movement towards patient-and-family-centered care has taken hold nationwide, and Hurley Medical Center is making the transition to this type of care environment. The implementation is taking place across the entire system with the goal of empowering patients to actively join in their own care.

Patient-and-family-centered care transforms health care into a participatory process in which the patient and their family are vital collaborators with providers. Their involvement is not only sought during decision making, but throughout care. The approach includes the emotional, social, cultural and developmental elements of health care. Providers give patients and their families’ ample information about treatment in a language they understand and prepare patients to manage their healthcare needs after discharge.

Patient-and-family-centered care requires teamwork and participation throughout all levels of the organization, from providers to executives and community partners. Making the transition can be difficult and involves a long-term commitment. This type of environment aims to improve communication, safety and quality, while emphasizing four core concepts: respect and dignity, information sharing, participation, and collaboration.
Roughly one year ago, Hurley began making this transition. The hospital hired a Patient-and-Family-Centered Care (PFCC) Coordinator, as well as created two multidisciplinary bodies to guide the transition: The PFCC Steering Committee and the PFCC Partnership Council.

The Steering Committee was Hurley’s first move. Made up of board members, patients and their families, senior leadership, physicians, and nursing and ancillary departments, the Steering Committee was responsible for outlining a plan for the transition. First, the committee recommended the formation of an advisory council (now called the Partnership Council), made up of people who come to Hurley for health care. According to staff, it is the patients and their family members who actually demonstrate what needs to be done to improve services. The Steering Committee now is actively addressing certain policies and practices that prevent Hurley from being patient-and-family-centered, such as visitation, disclosure and employee standards of behavior. Recently, the committee also created new brochures that advertise the Partnership Council and its roles and activities. These handouts will be strategically placed throughout the hospital in areas frequented by patients and their families.

Currently recruiting members to participate, the Partnership Council, meanwhile, formed in July 2010. Once they learned about PFCC and shared their individual stories, the group was able to identify some initial projects that would lead to improvements in care. They will begin investigating those ideas and also will begin creating bylaws and a charter for the council, which meets monthly.

In other efforts, Hurley staff began ongoing pilot programs in several of its clinical nursing units. Currently, the pilot areas are working to hard-wire some nursing initiatives that improve communication and relationships with patients, as well as implementing family rounding. Family rounding includes the physician, nurse, patient, desired family members and other disciplines as necessary. The patient involvement and feedback during rounds is an important safety component of PFCC.

Although PFCC is measureable, it takes time to demonstrate measurable success. With the transition roughly one year underway, Hurley’s Patient-and-Family-Centered Care Coordinator estimates that, since hospitals need at least three years if not more to compare results, they will be able to share tangible data in a few years.

For more information about Hurley’s transition to patient and family centered care, please contact:

Karen M. Lantzy RN MSN NE BC
Patient-and-Family-Centered Care Coordinator
Hurley Medical Center
One Hurley Plaza
Flint, MI 48503
810 262-4982
Klantzy1@hurleymc.com