Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently visited University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (UHS)—an Institute Pinwheel Sponsor. Secretary Sebelius’ visit to UHS was to support the Partnership for Patients, a nationwide effort to improve health care quality.

UHS is a regional health system serving 29 counties in eastern North Carolina. UHS includes eight hospitals, a free-standing ambulatory surgery center, physician practices, hospice and home health care and other independently operated health services. Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH), an 851-bed tertiary care center, is the flagship teaching hospital for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

UHS, which “engages patients in meaningful partnerships from the bedside to the board room,” is a leader in patient safety. UHS attributes its gains in reducing patient harm and improving safety—such as reducing hospital-acquired infections by 50% over two years—to several factors, including its “leadership’s firm commitment to improving quality, patient safety and patient experience; embracing transparency and involving patients and families in system decision-making.”

The UHS Board of Directors has set clear, bold goals for future quality improvements, such as launching a campaign to eliminate preventable harm and reach the 90th percentile nationally in patient experience by Sept. 30, 2013.

Secretary Sebelius met with UHS leaders, toured the Heart Institute at PCMH, and participated in a community roundtable with U.S. Congressman Butterfield, North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler, UHS leaders, and UHS patient advisors Dorothea Handron and Kim Blanton. The patient advisors shared their care experience at UHS. “Patients and families can be strong allies if they are seen as equal partners on the health care team,” Handron said. “University Health Systems exemplifies this initiative.”  See video clip.

The July 1, 2011 deadline for the submission of Abstracts for next summer’s The 5th International Conference on Patient- and Family-Centered Care is fast approaching. The Institute is looking for abstract submissions that represent innovative and exemplary patient- and family-centered programs. Key topics for submissions are:

• Leadership for Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care;
• Developing and Sustaining Effective Partnerships with Patient and Family Advisors/Leaders;
• Collaboration with Patients and Families in Primary Care;
• Changing the Concept of Families as Visitors in Hospitals and Other Health Care Facilities;
• Education of the Public to Promote Active Engagement in Health Care;
• Mind-Body Programs and Practices within a Patient- and Family-Centered Framework;
• Overcoming Current Challenges in Health Care;
• Supporting Patient- and Family-Centered Care Through Information Technology;
• Facility Design and Planning to Support Patient and Family-Centered Practice;
• Patient- and Family-Centered Curricula for Students, Trainees, and the Continuing Education of Health Care Professionals;
• Research Methods and Approaches; and
  
• Role of Funders and Government Agencies.

The Institute strongly encourages creative and innovative ways of presenting material, including team presentations, videos, and posters. All presenters will have an opportunity to respond to questions.

Take advantage of the easy online abstract submission process. Guidelines and instructions are available. The Abstract Review Committee will review abstract submissions, and on or around October 1, 2011 will issue invitations to present at the Conference.

See the Call for Abstracts Brochure for more detailed information about the submission process and the Conference. Submissions must be submitted by 5 pm ET, July 1, 2011.

Come join us in Madison, Wisconsin, for the Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care: Partnerships for Quality & Safety, November 7-10, 2011. This intensive training seminar provides three and a half days of comprehensive and practical sessions designed to help administrative leaders, board members, physicians, nurses and other clinical staff, and patients and families become effective agents for patient- and family-centered change in their organizations. Participants will gain the knowledge and skills to transform health care within hospitals, ambulatory care settings, and community practices to address the challenges and recommendations discussed in the Institute of Medicine’s report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, and the National Priorities Partners report, National Goals and Priorities: Aligning Our Efforts to Transform America’s Healthcare.

Madison—Wisconsin’s capital—is one of the most naturally beautiful metropolitan areas in the country. Surrounded by five glacial lakes and a world-class university, the city is an extraordinary blend of commerce, recreation, and cultural opportunities. Seminar participants may visit the University of Wisconsin campus and Madison’s museums, as well as enjoy the many sporting events, local shopping and dining venues, and beautiful lakes and parks. Come a few days early, or stay after the seminar, to enjoy the city that is famous for its visitors not wanting to leave! The Olbrich Botanical Gardens will feature Treasures of the Rainforest and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art exhibits will include Chicago Imagists, as well as E Pluribus Unum: Artists Picture Society. Runners can arrive early and participate in the 25th Annual Turkey Trot. Or take in some side trips—Taliesin, home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is only an hour away.

The seminar will be held at The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club, located right in the heart of downtown Madison, Wisconsin, near the State Capitol, State Street, Overture Center, the University of Wisconsin campus and its beautiful lakes, and Monona Terrace Convention Center. The hotel—only 5 miles from the airport—offers complimentary airport shuttle service. Other amenities include complimentary wireless internet access, on-site restaurant and business center, fitness center, indoor pool, whirlpool, and sauna.

Brochure and Registration coming soon.

Learn more about the seminar.

Change in Interns: Welcome Back to Carolina and Farewell to Chase

The Institute welcomes back Carolina Millan Ronchetti, who rejoined the Institute team for this summer after completing her freshman year at McGill University. Carolina, already familiar with the workings of the Institute from her time with us last summer, will be a great asset to the team. Welcome back!

The Institute team recently bid farewell to Chase Jordan, who joined the Institute team last fall, during his senior year of high school. Congratulations to Chase on his recent graduation! He is off to a year of traveling and adventure, before starting at Penn State in 2012. The Institute team wishes him the best; we miss him already! Thanks, Chase, for all your wonderful contributions, and for keeping us laughing.

With valuable input from its patient and family advisors, Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC), in Annapolis, Maryland, is now actively promoting family presence. Patients now have the power to choose who they want to stay with them—24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to the AAMC’s new policy, the patient determines who is "family.” Signs decorated with pineapples and the words "Welcome Families" will replace the old signs displaying the former visiting-hour policy.

The "Revisiting Visiting Task Force," comprised of staff, providers, and patient and family advisors, directly influenced the new family presence policy. In implementing patient- and family-centered care, Anne Arundel is working to include what the patients and their families have to say about everything from visiting hours to changing directory signs around the hospital.

AAMC is also a recipient of a Picker Institute "Always Event" grant. Patients and families, staff, and providers will develop a simple universal checklist of five items as a SMART Discharge Protocol^sm. (SMART is an acronym for: Signs, Medications, Appointments, Results, and Talk with Me.) The SMART Team will build on current evidence, create urgency and expectation for use with patients, families, and caregivers, disseminate findings, and promote the protocol as a national standard.

More hospitals and health care systems are implementing patient- and family-centered practices, and recognizing the importance of establishing paid positions for patient and family leaders. In order to better respond to inquiries it receives, the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care soon will be launching the second annual informal voluntary survey for patient and family leaders hired by their health care organizations. Individual responses—about position structure, title, and salary range—will remain confidential, but the aggregate results will be posted on the Institute's website. The results will provide updated information to health care systems and patient/family leaders for developing these positions to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered care and strengthen these partnerships.

So, if you are paid patient/family leader within a hospital or a health care system in a role to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered initiatives, please watch for, and respond to the soon to be released survey. 

Farewell and Best Wishes to Cezanne Garcia

The Institute wishes all the best to Cezanne Garcia, a talented, energetic, and gentle member of our team, who is taking time off to enjoy the summer with her family, tend her garden, and write. Seven years as seminar faculty and three years as staff, the Institute appreciates Cezanne’s training, technical assistance, and resource development achievements that have advanced the understanding and practice of patient- and family-centered care. We wish Cezanne much success in her future endeavors.