Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina was founded in Charleston in 1824. MUSC Health, currently with its 16 hospitals and six colleges (Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy), is the only comprehensive academic health system in South Carolina. In 2023, for the ninth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston as the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina.
MUSC has been committed to patient- and family-centered care since the creation of a dedicated position for the work in 2015. At that time, they also established a PFCC Steering Committee with members from each of what are now ten Patient and Family Advisory Councils and other key stakeholders in the organization. The idea is to share best practices and foster a culture of partnerships across the health system. In 2023 MUSC had 46 committees with PFA representation. These included Safety Rounds, Root Cause Analysis, Falls Committee, Patient Safety, Digital Patient Engagement and several facility design projects.
Caroline DeLongchamps is the Program Director for PFCC and she reports directly to the Chief Quality Officer for the health system. In 2019, Caroline was invited to deliver the commencement speech for the Medical University, receiving an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters. She shared the story of her son, a trauma patient, who suffered a significant brain injury and how staff and clinicians introduced her to the concepts of partnership. She later became a family advisor and is now the staff lead for PFCC across the entire health system.
In 2020 during the onset of the Covid pandemic, MUSC Health’s Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) collaborated in the development and dissemination of a letter to families regarding MUSC guidelines for all hospitals and ambulatory sites within the health system.
Our primary goal at MUSC Health is the safety of our patients, families, and care team members. We continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and make changes in response to the challenges and uncertainty resulting from this situation. In addition to direction from the state of South Carolina, MUSC Health closely follows CDC guidelines and is learning from other hospitals around the country as we deal with this virus.
Therefore, in addition to the screening and hand hygiene protocols currently in place, we are now limiting family presence and visitation. For the safety of you, your family and our care team members, the following guidelines will be in effect for MUSC Hospitals and Ambulatory Sites:
- One support care person/visitor may be at the bedside at all times.
- Patients under 18 years of age may have two parents or caregivers at the bedside at all times.
On December 31, 2021, Danielle Scheurer, the Chief Quality Officer, issued a statement reinforcing the above guidelines as a safety strategy for patients, families, and staff—limiting visitation, but supporting the presence of at least one family member during the pandemic.
In January 2023, MUSC Health’s Family Presence and Visitation Policy was updated for the system and reflects the view that family members are essential allies in the well-being of patients of all ages. This policy is just one way the organization actively partners with families to let them know they are valuable members of the health care team.
Source: MUSC Website: https://muschealth.org/patients-visitors
Currently, a family badging system is being implemented for adult services. It was rolled out in the Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion when the building opened in 2019. The family badges are available 48 hours after admission for up to two family members of a patient who will be in the hospital for a long-term stay. These badges are hard plastic, include a photo/expiration date and are brightly colored. The family badging program was created to clearly signify family members at the bedside to care team members, reduce traffic at our Guest Services locations, and make it easier for family members entering hospitals each day.