The Institute for Family-Centered Care is pleased to host our Spring Seminar with support from Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, March 3-6, 2008.

The Hospitals Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care Seminar provides three and a half days of comprehensive and practical sessions designed to help administrators, physicians, nurses, other clinical staff, patients, and families become effective agents for patient- and family-centered change in their hospital systems.

The unique format of this seminar encourages dialogue within, and among, hospital teams and with the seminar faculty. We encourage each hospital team to include at least one physician, an administrator, and one patient or family advisor. Interdisciplinary, patient/family/professional teams enhance the educational value of the seminar. These teams are best positioned to provide leadership for patient- and family-centered change following the seminar and boost change efforts once you return home. We offer a reduced registration fee for patient/family advisors and discounts for teams of three or more.

NEW and EXCITING CHANGES

Beginning with this seminar, there is a special track for senior leaders. Major topics include: Changing the View that Families are Visitors; Supporting Family Presence and Participation in Rounds, Developing the Business Case to Support Patient- and Family-Centered Care, Patient- and Family-Centered Care Measurement, Enhancing Patient Safety through Partnerships with Patients and Families.

WHAT MAKES THIS SEMINAR SO UNIQUE?

Participants will benefit from a wide range of resources including:

Faculty review of pre-seminar hospital self-assessment;

Three and a half days of intensive training, including a variety of plenary presentations, as well as small-group, interactive topical sessions that offer the opportunity to tailor the program to meet specific needs and interests;

Focused sessions for senior leaders;

Individualized team planning time with faculty;

Take-home resources for presentations, orientation, and in-service sessions; and

Post seminar follow-up telephone technical assistance with seminar faculty.

Cvent, our online registrar, will register all your team members together or each individual separately, direct you to hotel reservations and airport shuttle arrangements, and allow you to invite your friends to the Seminar. We encourage you to register now using our up-to-the-minute online registration process to take advantage of the special Early Bird registration discount.

Bev Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Family-Centered Care, received the 2007 Changemaker Award from The Center for Health Design (CHD) in Dallas, Texas on November 5, 2007. Selected by CHD’s Board of Directors, The Changemaker Award, initiated in 1999, honors individuals or organizations that have demonstrated exceptional ability to make change happen in healthcare facility design.
 
In its press release, CHD stated, “Since she was with the Association for the Care of Children’s Health (ACCH), Bev has understood the connection between the environment and the experience of patients, families, and the caregivers. She has been a tireless promoter of family-centered and caregiver supportive models for healthcare delivery all across the continuum from birthing to hospice. Bev was one of the earliest adopters of the Center for Health Design’s position that the design of the environment for healthcare makes a difference to outcomes and the experience of people in the buildings of healthcare.”

“Bev has long been a partner in our crusade to spread the word about evidence-based design,” said Roz Cama, Chair of The Center’s Board of Directors. “We are so happy to be able to present her with this much deserved award.”

The CHD noted that in her current role as President and CEO of the Institute for Family-Centered Care, Bev welcomes and involves members of the design community in the Institute’s programs and conferences to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered care, and she continues to advocate for more and better evidence-based research.  

The Center for Health Design is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization whose mission is to transform healthcare settings into healing environments that improve outcomes through the creative use of evidence-based design. The Center for Health Design envisions a future where healing environments are recognized as a vital part of therapeutic treatment; and where the design of healthcare settings contributes to health and does not add to the burden of stress.

Patient- and Family-Centered Care Included in Health Forum Survey

On October 30th, the Health Forum's 2007 Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Survey was sent to CEOs of approximately 5500 hospitals in the United States. This year the Institute for Family-Centered Care participated in the development of the survey. We are pleased to announce that for the first time there is a section of the survey focused on patient- and family-centered care and partnerships with patients and families to improve and redesign health care. Please encourage your hospital's administrative team to complete the survey and return it before the December 15th deadline.
   

COMING SOON: The Institute for Family-Centered Care, with funding support from the California HealthCare Foundation, has developed a comprehensive report: Partneringwith Patients and Families To Design a Patient- and Family-CenteredHealth Care System: Recommendations and Promising Practices.  The report will be available for download free of charge on the Institute's web site in early January 2008.

The Institute warmly welcomes Ann Selinger!  Ann worked as a volunteer at the 3rd International Conference in Seattle, WA. Those of you who attended the conference may have seen or met Ann at our publications table, assisting attendees, selling  publications, and processing financial transactions.  She was a great addition to our Conference team.

Since then, Ann, who recently moved back to Maryland from Massachusetts, has been volunteering at the Institute's office, assisting on a variety of projects, including our Pinwheel Sponsors program.

Ann brings a wealth of life experience, both personally and professionally.  Included on her resume: Children's hospital volunteer, school volunteer, hospital board member, nursery school teacher, children’s book store owner, caterer, real estate agent, administrative assistant, wife, mother, and grandmother.

Ann was married for 37 years, has two adult children and two grandchildren.  In 2002, Ann's husband, John, became ill.  Over the course of the next 5 years, he required two major hospitalizations and a stay in a rehabilitation facility. Ann served as his primary advocate, and was with him until the end of his life in early 2007.  Along the way, Ann learned a lot about the health care system, and the importance of patient and family involvement in health care.  Ann's personal experience, caring and advocating for John through out his illness and death—gave her the valuable perspective that she brings to the Institute.

The Institute is delighted that Ann generously has agreed to be a part of our office team!
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Ann is currently working at the St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., planning their Centennial Celebration. In Ann's spare time, in addition to spending time with her children and grandchildren, she enjoys knitting, reading, and traveling.

The Institute for Family-Centered Care offers a variety of resources that support the advancement and practice of patient- and family-centered care.  Some resources, such as profiles of patient and family advisors and organizational leaders and managers can be found for free on our website.  A variety of other useful tools for change can be downloaded for free from our website.

The Institute also sells a variety of publications and multi-media resources that are filled with valuable information for use by healthcare providers, patients, and families to facilitate the delivery of patient- and family-centered care.

Please take a look at our NEW AND IMPROVED Resources guide to see a listing and description of the resources available for purchase. While all the resources are available on our web site, the new Resources guide provides a compact, organized catalogue, includes an index of our resources, and is offered in a PDF format for easy downloading and  reading.

                                    Don't forget, orders can be processed easily and quickly online.