Shifting the care experience
Including patients and families in the care they receive, and in the operations of our organization, just makes sense.
In April 2018, Providence’s Care Experience team honoured the efforts of everyone who contributes daily to making our patients’ and residents’ care the best it can be.
These are the doctors, clinicians, non-clinical staff and our valued patient-and-family partner volunteers who are dedicated to not only patients, but also the family members who are central to the care of their loved one.
The Care Experience team, led by Kate McNamee and Kelly Third, brought its celebrations to Providence’s acute care hospitals, residential care sites and some outpatient clinics.
They heard what patients and their families had to say about their time at Providence and recognized those who contribute to making the time in our care as positive an experience as it could be.
Why is our close collaboration with patients and their families so important to their care?
Quite simply, research shows that partnering with patients and families – giving them a say in their care – improves health outcomes.
Devoting a week to patient, resident and family-centred work gives us all an opportunity to reflect on the progress made through the year and on how to make our work in the future even better.
Patient and Family Centred Care at Providence
In 2012, Providence made a commitment to embrace Patient & Family Centred Care (PFCC) across the organization.
This commitment to fostering engagement-capable environments where patients, residents and families experience culturally safe, socially just patient and family centred care is driven and defined by four core concepts:
- Patients and families are consistently treated with respect and dignity.
- Patients and families are consistently invited to participate in clinical decision-making at the level they choose.
- Patients and families are consistently invited to collaborate with us as partners.
- Patients and families consistently have access to information so they can be involved in their care.
These four concepts also capture the strategic work being done on an operational level to further engage patients, residents and families with our care teams, and socialize the importance of relationships, steeped in respect and dignity.
This work can take on a variety of shapes. Some examples include us letting our patients and families know our names, what our occupation is, and what we’re there to do, or working to increase our cultural competency, or ensuring our patients and families continue to participate in nurse handover at shift change in critical care areas.
“Improving our care for the community carries forward the mission of the Founding Sisters of Providence,” says Kate McNamee, practice consultant, Care Experience at Providence. “They embraced the under-served, the voiceless and the vulnerable, and the spirit of their work lives on at PHC in the work that we do.”
