Editor’s Note: Health Central Hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council was recognized as a finalist for the 2018 Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement. The Sherman Award is co-sponsored by Taylor Healthcare and the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. In addition to selecting Sherman Award winners each year, the judges name finalists when the caliber of their projects warrants special recognition. […]
Before I joined OpenNotes, I worked at Health Care For All, one of the country’s leading consumer healthcare advocacy non-profits. I was part of a team, which included volunteers, that successfully advocated for a law requiring all Massachusetts hospitals to establish Patient and Family Advisory Councils (or PFACs). Such councils exist in thousands of U.S. […]
The idea of patient-centered care resonates well with me, and other nurses who have long valued the central role of patients and families in the delivery of care. Some of my most memorable pediatric patients had miraculous recoveries, and the one aspect that all of these patients had in common was an engaging family support […]