Evelyn Liberman
Center for Patients and Families

BWH clinicians, staff and patient advisors at this year’s Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care Conference

BWH welcomed the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC) to Boston for its annual seminar  November 3–6. Four hundred fifty patient advisors, nurses, social workers, physicians and staff from hospitals around the country joined together in the spirit of integrating the principles of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) into practice.

BWH was well-represented with 65 patient advisors, nurses, residents, attending physicians, social workers and staff who shared their experiences while learning from the experiences of others.
The IPFCC faculty created a new track for BWH medical/surgical residents and fellows this year to learn about and integrate PFCC guiding principles into their practice. Eight residents who attended were mentored by IPFCC faculty and BWH hospitalists Robert Boxer, MD, PhD, Esteban Gershanik, MD, John Co, MD, MPH, and Chief Medical Officer Stan Ashley, MD, on improving quality and safety when incorporating families and patients into the care team.

Over the past three years, research has been conducted by teams to improve patient- and family-centered care for BWH patients. This research is the  result of senior leadership’s unwavering support for improving care and the patient experience. Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services, has long been a champion, with her doctoral study of  patients’ perceptions of feeling  known by their nurses.

Maureen Fagan, DNP, RN, executive director of the Center for Patients and Families, and Martie Carnie, senior patient advisor, presented their research study, “Patient- and Family-Centered Care in Medical Grand Rounds: Physicians’ Perceptions.” The evidence revealed that after hearing patient narratives during grand rounds, 66 percent of residents and 50 percent of attending physicians surveyed reported that they would change their behavior to be more patient- and family-centered.

Boxer, Nursing Director Patricia Brita Rossi, MSN, RN, patient advisor Joe Nies and Medicine resident Kristin Huang, MD, presented the results of their study on inter-professional rounding on Tower 14AB, finding that time spent rounding decreased from 3.0 to 2.4 hours.

Luis Soto, director of Environmental Services and Central Transport Services, showed a video filmed at BWH about two patients’ perceptions of being transported while experiencing delirium. He moderated a panel on how Central Transport staff who are fully present and communicative with patients (reassuring them that they’re being cared for) helped patients feel calmer and safer.

In addition to panel presentations on current research, participants actively participated in designing their own action plans to implement patient- and family-centered care goals at their home institutions. Conference faculty members coached these small groups through the process of creating these action plans.

The meeting ended with a Boston-style celebration at Fenway Park.