April/May 2010, Issue 32

Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward

with Patient- and Family-Centered Care

An Intensive Training Seminar ~

Partnerships for Quality and Safety

With Leadership Support from:

University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina,

North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety, and

UNC Health Care System

November 1-4, 2010 • Pinehurst Resort • Village of  Pinehurst, North Carolina

Registration Opens Soon

President Obama: Respecting the Rights of Hospital Patients to Receive Visitors
Bringing Patient- and Family-Centered Care into the Waiting Room Experience
Salary Survey Results Announced at Dallas Seminar
Journal of Risk Management Special Issue Devoted to Patient- and Family-Centered Care
Keep Up-To-Date on Patient-Centered Medical Home
Institute for
Family-Centered Care
7900 Wisconsin Ave, Suite 405
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
P: 301 652-0281
F: 301 652-0186
E: institute@iffcc.org
W:  www.familycenteredcare.org
President Obama: Respecting the Rights of Hospital Patients to Receive Visitors

The issue of “visiting” in hospitals, including who can visit and patients’ rights around visiting, was addressed in a recent memo from President Obama to the Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary, Kathleen Sibelius, in April, 2010. The intention of that memo was to clarify that patients should have the right to determine who can visit them and who has the right to make decisions for patients in medical emergencies. While the intention of the President’s memo is to be applauded, the Institute for Family-Centered Care believes that much of the traditional language around “visiting policies” and “family” needs to be changed and that restrictive visiting policies and practices must be amended. The evidence is clear that restrictive visiting policies and practices are outdated, costly, put patients at risk, and contribute to emotional suffering for both the patient and family.

At the recent Dallas Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care seminar, the Institute formed a working group to assist in preparing a response to the President's memo and to develop a set of guidelines with respect to family presence and participation. The Institute strongly encourages hospitals to revise their visiting policies. Each patient should be encouraged to define his/her family, and how to have them involved in care and decision-making. There needs to be a distinction between the people that patients identify as their family and their key support during hospitalization and those who are indeed “visitors” to patients and their families.

The Institute is compiling samples of hospital policies and guidelines that support and encourage family presence and participation and view families as allies for quality and safety, not “visitors.” The Institute plans to share these patient- and family-centered policies and guidelines with President Obama and Secretary Sibelius. We would appreciate receiving copies of hospital policies and guidelines that welcome individuals that the patient identifies as family and key support twenty-four hours/day, seven days/week. If you have one to share, please send it to Institute@iffcc.org.

Bringing Patient- and Family-Centered Care into the Waiting Room Experience

Taking Care of Those Who Wait: Creating the Ideal Waiting Room Experience describes how the University of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Center, Cardiac Procedures Unit (CPU), transformed its small crowded waiting room into the “ideal waiting room experience.”

From the start, the waiting room project focused on the patient and his/her family. Not only is the new facility large and peaceful, procedures are patient- and family-centered. For example, upon arrival, the family checks in with the family waiting room coordinator who writes a description of the family members so they can discreetly be approached with patient updates. The family waiting room coordinator works with the charge nurses to escort patients and their families to their prep rooms. Lockers are available for patients' personal belongings, with the family members holding the key. Family members in the waiting room receive updates every thirty minutes and are given a pager, so they can comfortably leave the waiting room knowing that they will not miss these important updates or conversations with the treating physician. When the attending physician meets with the family in a private consultation room to explain the procedure and outcome, computers are available for sharing pictures of the procedure and to access other relevant on–line information. Learn more about the ideal waiting room experience….

McQuillen, D. & Derheim, M. (2009). Taking care of those who wait: Creating the ideal waiting room experience. EP Lab Digest 9(11).

Salary Survey Results Announced at Dallas Seminar

The Institute announced the results of the Paid Positions for Patient and Family Leaders Survey at the Dallas Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care intensive training seminar in the session Creating Paid Positions for Patients and Family Leaders: Key Considerations. The results of the survey will be posted on the Institute's website within the next few weeks. Check the News Flash column for the announcement.

A special thanks to Baylor Health Care System and Children's Medical Center for providing leadership support for the Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care intensive training seminar held last month in Dallas, Texas. Approximately 435 seminar participants came from 37 states, Canada, and South Africa. Teams represented 122 hospitals and healthcare centers.

Bradley M. Leonard, MD, FACC, CMO and VP, Medical Affairs, The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, and Baylor Regional Medical Center shared his reaction: "I defy anyone to spend 3 and 1/2 days at this [seminar] and not have their thinking about how we deliver health care in this country changed on a fundamental level."

Here are representative comments from other seminar participants:

  • “…the most useful seminar for leadership that I have been to. I was promoted into the leadership team 9 months ago, and this has been the best mentorship seminar by far."
  • "I have been to a lot of conferences in my career and none have lifted me in the way that this seminar did.”
  • “The most powerful experience I have ever had at a conference.”
  • “If I could, I would make every single physician at my hospitals attend at least part of today…”
  • “I thought I was PFCC, but I had no idea!! I am a changed person because of this experience forever more!”
  • “This seminar really allowed me to understand PFCC and the importance of empowering patients and families. It really allowed me to have a different view and will definitely change my practice of nursing.”
  • “It was an eye opening experience. It really forced me to look at patients and family differently.”
  • “...amazing, informative and so positive! I hope to attend again as the learning is endless!”
  • "I would describe as invaluable, and imperative…”








The Institute will be hosting the fall seminar, Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care, November 1-4, 2010, at Pinehurst Resort, Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina.


Thanks to University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina; North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety; and UNC Health Care System for providing leadership support for this upcoming intensive training seminar.
Journal of Risk Management Special Issue Devoted to Patient- and Family-Centered Care

Copyright 2010Copyright© 2010

The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, (ASHRM) devoted its most recent issue of the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management entirely to patient- and family-centered care. This special issue is designed to help risk managers become familiar with the relationship between risk management objectives and the principles of patient- and family-centered care. 

The Institute is proud that one of the articles appearing in this special issue is co-authored by Bev Johnson, President and CEO, and Marie Abraham, Senior Policy and Program Specialist, both from the Institute, along with Dan Ford, who is Vice President of the Furst Group. Dan’s personal experience in one hospital’s “failed effort to manage a devastating medical error” spurred Dan to become an advocate for safety, quality, and patient- and family-centered care.

Collaborating with Patients and their Families tells how the key concepts of patient- and family-centered care can be applied in any healthcare setting. The article focuses on how risk managers and their administrators can create partnerships with patients and their families to improve a variety of outcomes. Transparency about care processes and errors “builds trust, creates mutual respect, and fosters problem-solving.” These partnerships can result in increased safety, reduced errors, and better allocation of resources.

Other articles in this special issue include:

•    Patient- and Family-Centered Care, Introduction to a culture, process, and philosophy, by Robert F. Bunting Jr.;
•    Implementation of a patient-friendly medication schedule to improve patient safety with a healthcare system, by Jodi E. Fredericks and Robert F. Bunting, Jr.;
•    Enterprise-wide effort brings patient perspective into mix, by Patricia Sodomka, and James J. Rush, Jr.; and
•    Building confidence into communication of bad news: The role of the patient advocate, by Ruth P. Sullivan, Carol R. Waldemayer, and Robert F. Bunting, Jr.

Members of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management can access the entire Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, Volume 29, Number 4 on-line for free. 

Non-members can contact the publisher, Wiley, to purchase on–line access and reprints.

Keep Up-To-Date on Patient-Centered Medical Home

Check out the H2RMinutes—a weekly e-newsletter sponsored by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, SNAPforSeniors, and HealthFitness Corporation, and produced by Health2Resources that shares the latest news about the patient centered medical home (PCMH). H2RMinutes summarized articles and research relating to the patient-centered medical home and the impact of federal funding for health information technology and exchange.


Riley Hospital for Children, an Institute PinWheel Sponsor, was presented with the Socius Award, the top national award for positive and effective partnering in pursuit of improved patient safety by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF). Socius is the Latin word for "partner," and NPSF presents the annual award to one organization that exemplifies partnership between health care providers and the patients and families they serve. CONGRATULATIONS!

Centers for Disease Control Offer Web-Based Training in
Health Literacy for the Public Health Professionals

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a free, web-based Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals training program. The purpose of this training is to educate public health professionals about limited health literacy and their role in addressing it in a public health context. According to the CDC, this course will “challenge you to think about the significance of health literacy in the work you do as a public health professional…[and] provides practical steps to apply the principles and strategies of health literacy in your daily activities.”

This web-based course can be accessed 24/7 by any computer with Internet access. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Trainees can earn a variety of continuing education credits.

For more information …

Also, check out AHRQ's Health Literacy and Cultural Competence Resource Links

American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH)

The American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (AACH) offers an annual ENRICH (Enriching Relationships in Communication in Healthcare) course on how to teach communication and relationship skills. This year's course, Using the Keys to Clinical Quality, Patient Safety, and Patients’ Experiences of Care, jointly sponsored by Lifespan, the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare, and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, is June 11-15, 2010, at the Campus of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

For more information...