The Cook Children’s Experience Corner: Family Engagement
Amit Singh, M.D., on behalf of the Cook Children’s Experience Team
Parents, guardians and caregivers are some of the most important people we meet when caring for a sick child. We rely on them to provide histories, clinical contexts and continuity for our patients. We have to trust that they are able to care for their children with the care plans we outline. They can be the most trusted person in the room for a child. Moreover, studies in family-centered care have shown that formal involvement of parents and caregivers in a child’s care can lead to improved safety, overall quality of experience and reduced disparities.1-3
At Cook Children’s we are blessed to have a strong and wonderful group dedicated to parent and caregiver support in our Experience team which we want to highlight this week. Our Family Engagement Department encompasses a wide variety of services starting with our guest relations specialists (primary role is information desk and assistance with parent programming), and our parents on staff who help make up the Family-Centered Care and Parents as Partners programs. We also have many Patient and Family Advisory Councils which are groups of volunteer parents who have children cared for in the Cook Children’s system that play an integral role in advising on everything from simple parent education materials to larger quality improvement, patient safety and research initiatives.
Being in the hospital can be an exhausting experience for most caregivers and as such, our team is dedicated to providing spaces in the hospital for parents to take some personal time away from the bedside for self-care. Some fun programs to share with your families and colleagues include:
Parent Coffee Hour: Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 am in the Family Support Meeting Center and Thursdays from 7:30-8:30 am in the Child Life Zone
- A chance for caregivers to meet, share experiences, receive support and enjoy complimentary coffee and breakfast
Parent Care Cart: volunteer led at intermittent times
- Comfort and care items for parents and caregivers, including journals, coping cards, coloring pages, sleep masks etc., offered by a rounding volunteer Parent Mentor
It is imperative we think of parents and caregivers not only as witnesses to their child’s care, but as actual members of the child’s care team. We encourage you to explore the links above. And we hope the next time you or your group is considering a new initiative or improvement that impacts your patients and families, you will collaborate with the Family Engagement Department to be one of your team members.
References:
1. Gaiser MD, Santos J, Lord T, Venner S, Boguslaw J, Nsiah-Jefferson L. Patient and Family Advisory
Councils: Advancing Culturally Effective Patient-Centered Care. The Institute on Assets and Social Policy. Published 2016. https://heller.brandeis.edu/iere/pdfs/jobs/PFAC.pdf
2. Kuhn KJ, Mickelsen LJ, Morimoto LN, Larson DB. The use of patient and family advisory councils to improve patient experience in radiology. Health Care Policy and Quality, 2016;207: 965-970.
3. Sharma AE, Knox M, Mleczko VL, Olayiwola, JN. The impact of patient advisors on healthcare outcomes: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research. 2017;17:693.
Helpful Resources:
1. American Academy of Pediatric website on Patient and Family Centered Care: https://www.aap.org/en/practice-management/providing-patient--and-family-centered-care/
2. Institute for Patient and Family-Centered Care. Ipfcc.org. https://www.ipfcc.org/