Patient and Family Centered Care

Patient- and Family-Centered Care (PFCC) is an approach to healthcare that offers a new way of thinking about the relationships between patients, their families, and healthcare providers. It is founded on the understanding that the family plays a vital role in ensuring the health and well-being of patients of all ages.The ultimate goal of PFCC is to create partnerships among healthcare practitioners, patients, and families that will lead to the best outcomes and enhance the quality and safety of healthcare.

PFCC Four Key Principles

• People are treated with respect and dignity.
• Healthcare providers communicate and share complete and unbiased information with patients and families in ways that support them and are useful.
• Patients and families are encouraged and supported in participating in care and decision-making at the level they choose.
• Collaboration among patients, family members, and providers occurs in policy and program development and professional education, as well as the delivery of care.

Establishing patient- and family-centered care requires a long-term commitment, and entails transforming the organizational culture. This approach to care is a journey, not a destination-one that requires continual exploration and evaluation of new ways to collaborate with patients and families.

Partners in Care Advisory Council
Individuals who are most dependent on hospital care are also those who are most dependent upon families: the very young, the very old, and those with chronic health conditions.

There is a nationwide movement to improve clinician-patient relationships, driven in part by consumer demand, and in part by the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking 2001 report "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century." This report advocates that healthcare organizations of all types should adopt PFCC concepts and methods.

PFCC focuses on treating patients and their family members as partners on the care team. Most of the national accrediting and policy agencies have adopted PFCC as a key to improving safety in hospitals. Family members often play key roles in patient safety.

Advisory Council Objectives

• Work together with the healthcare team to promote principles of PFCC.
• Collaborate with SBUMC leadership to improve the quality of care provided to patients and their families in all inpatient settings.
• Improve patient and family satisfaction.
• Offer suggestions to SBUMC leadership in planning and evaluating services, programs, policies, teaching materials, and education to healthcare providers.
• Promote a positive relationship among SBUMC, its families, and the community, and thereby serve as a vital link between the Hospital and the community.
• Serve on key committees related to patient care, patient safety and patient satisfaction.

Children's Services Advisory Board

Partners in Care Advisory Board Membership Application 

* * *

For more information on PFCC or the Partners in Care Advisory Council, please contact:

Roseanna Ryan
Patient - and Family - Centered Care Coordinator
Stony Brook University Medical Center
(631) 444-7772
roseanna.ryan@stonybrook.edu

Resources

Institute for Family-Centered Care
htttp://www.familycenteredcare.org

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Topics/PatientCenteredCare

A free online service helping family and friends stay in touch & informed