With visitors temporarily barred from hospitals, physicians across the country are using video apps to meet with family members to offer clinical updates or discuss end-of-life preferences for critically ill patients. South Shore Hospital, part of South Shore Health, in South Weymouth sought a new way to enable this important communication via FaceTime or Zoom […]
Working on a problem for a family member recently, I was reminded that persistence is an important tool for engaged patients and family members. Fortunately, the problem was not critical and has now been resolved. The experience, however, reinforced my frustration with the needless complexity of our healthcare system, which can bedevil even apparently simple […]
Editor’s Note: This week’s Encore Presentation describes how the Memorial Rehabilitation Institute fixed a safety problem by increasing the engagement of family members. In addition to preventing patient falls, the program improved family communication and satisfaction and unexpectedly decreased the number of patients who needed to transfer to skilled nursing facilities. The Memorial Rehabilitation Institute received […]
Editor’s Note: The Lutheran Home of Southbury’s “Music and Memory” program 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 warrant special […]
Editor’s Note: The Memorial Rehabilitation Institute received a 2018 Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement for its fall prevention program. The Sherman Award is co-sponsored by Taylor Healthcare and the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute and was awarded at the IHI/NPSF Patient Safety Congress held recently in Boston, Massachusetts. Memorial Rehabilitation Institute, located in Hollywood, Florida, […]
Editor’s Note: The complexity of the American healthcare system is difficult for patients, families and consumers to understand. It also frustrates clinicians and increases the risk that something will go wrong in the course of care. For those in need of care or simply trying to manage routine needs, such as ongoing medications, the system […]
In 2013, before I’d ever heard of “patient engagement,” I spent many days at doctor’s offices, hospitals, chemo infusion suites, in ambulances, and with visiting nurses in our home. My first husband, Ahmad, had Stage IV bladder cancer, and we spent a draining 11 months in a desperate quest to save his life. I observed […]
When I think about patient engagement, I’m usually thinking of patients and caregivers engaged in care plans directed and managed by healthcare professionals. The settings most familiar to me include hospitals, physician practices, and ambulatory care offices, such as physical therapy practices, urgent care facilities, and community clinics. I’m not usually thinking of home care. Patient […]
Editor’s note: Dayton Children’s Hospital was named a finalist for the 2017 Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement for its Family Resource Connection program. The program helps families address non-medical barriers to good health, such as poor nutrition and unsafe housing, by connecting them with local resources. Jessica Saunders first wrote about this program […]
As closing keynote speaker at the 27th Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Annual Forum this past December, Don Berwick, former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and senior fellow with IHI, suggested that “relationships will be the foundation of health care’s new age.” “It’s not power or accountability or reward or punishment […]