The PFAC Assessment is designed to help the PFAC team understand how current hospital policies, structures, and practices may affect your PFAC or PFACs.

The PFAC team should complete the PFAC Assessment to identify strengths, opportunities for improvement, and potential barriers to change. The assessment contains questions about the following:

• Organizational commitment to the PFAC program
• Hospital leadership support
• Availability of data about the PFAC
• PFA recruitment
• PFAC belonging
• Supports for PFA participation
• PFAC infrastructure
• PFA participation in community health and health equity efforts
• PFAC assessment processes

When completing the assessment, responses to questions should be based on data rather than assumptions. Build time into the process of completing the PFAC Assessment to gather information, including getting feedback from PFAs. Be open to honest feedback and conversations.

After completing the PFAC Assessment, the PFAC team should reflect on the following:

• Strengths: Based on the assessment, what is going well?
• Challenges: What are potential barriers to strengthening work with your PFAC? How can these barriers be addressed moving forward?
• Information gaps: What does the assessment indicate about areas where additional information is needed to understand the current state of your PFAC program?
• Opportunities: What are some specific opportunities to advance and strengthen the PFAC? What are the priorities for improving PFA representativeness, creating a welcoming environment for PFAs, and engaging PFAs in health equity?

Information adapted from: Toolkit: Strategic Planning for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity

Example: Working with a New PFAC

A hospital with a recently-established PFAC completed the assessment in this guide to learn more about possible next steps for their PFAC program. The staff members in charge of the PFAC gathered as a team to discuss each item on the assessment. The team reported that the PFAC assessment was helpful in identifying “to do” and “to find out about” lists, refining areas of focus for their action plan, and guiding forward progress. In completing the assessment, the team realized they were missing important information to inform their work. For example, the team did not have data about the hospital’s patient population, which they needed to help understand which perspectives were missing on the PFAC and inform efforts to recruit PFAs who are reflective of the communities served.

Example: Working with PFAs to Complete the PFAC Assessment

A children’s hospital team wanted to incorporate PFA perspectives in completing the PFAC assessment and identifying priorities for action. The team programmed the assessment as an electronic survey. As a first step, they asked PFAs who served on the executive committee for the hospital’s three PFACs to complete the survey. To facilitate this process, executive committee members were given a dedicated 30 minutes in a meeting to complete the assessment. After reviewing responses, the PFAC team selected 15 key questions from the assessment, programmed these as a separate survey, and sent the survey to every member of their teen and children’s council, outpatient clinic council, and main pediatric council. The group received over 30 responses from PFAs. This approach helped ensure that priorities for action reflected priorities from both staff and PFAs.

Example: A Collaborative Team Approach to the PFAC Assessment

One children’s hospital designated a core team with responsibility for completing the PFAC assessment. The team consisted of family advisors, the Director of Patient and Family Experience, the PFAC staff liaison, and two family consultants in paid staff positions at the hospital. As a first step, each team member completed the assessment individually. The team then met to review results, discuss differences of opinion, note areas of agreement, and identify areas where more information was needed. The group also used generative AI to synthesize their independent assessments, identify top strengths and opportunities, and suggest potential action steps. This process helped identify where staff perspectives aligned and where there were growth opportunities, especially regarding focused recruitment and building relationships with community organizations.

Example: Allowing Time for Conversation

One hospital team, which included family partnership specialists, PFAC coordinators, and family leaders, scheduled a 90-minute meeting to work together on completing the PFAC assessment. Due to the robust discussion generated by the assessment, the team was only able to discuss half of the questions. Team members completed the rest of the assessment individually, after which the group convened again to review and collate responses. This approach enabled people to contribute their individual viewpoints while being heard as part of the process. The team reported that the assessment process was a valuable opportunity for newer members of the organization to gain background and context about the PFAC program. Family leaders described the process as “very validating.”