Creating care together: patient and family advisors provide the patient perspective
- January 30, 2024 by St. Mary's General Hospital
Pictured: Members of the St. Mary's General Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC).
Every day, hundreds of patients and visitors come through the doors of St. Mary’s General Hospital. But what many may not realize is that patients and families—just like them—also play a pivotal role in shaping the ways our teams work and care.
While much has changed over the past 100 years, a cornerstone that has remained throughout is St. Mary’s dedication to its patients. The Sisters built St. Mary's as a direct response to the urgent need for healthcare they witnessed here to serve the members of the local communities.
The Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at St. Mary’s is integral in the continued commitment to elevate the ways the Hospital cares, innovates, and serves, putting patients and their families at the heart of every decision and empowering them to be partners in their care—and in the Hospital’s work.
Patients and families pay it forward
Since 2016, patients and their family members have generously given their time as members of the PFAC, partnering with team members and clinicians to share their input on policies, programs, practices, and, most recently, planning for the future of care in the community. Having patient and family advisors as a part of the Hospital team means including the patient and family perspective at the centre of our work and the ways we design and deliver patient care and services.
Advocating for pillars of care, like patient safety, and supporting projects that impact patient experience, like the registration kiosks for the Emergency Department, are just a few ways patient and family advisors shape the care and experience at St. Mary’s.
When the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) was being moved to a new space within the Hospital, two patient and family advisors were asked to do a walkthrough and provided important feedback from a patient’s perspective that helped the team decide how to arrange the unit to enhance patient experience.
One advisor’s experience as a patient even inspired the creation of a welcome package that is available to patients on their bedside monitors. It provides all the information someone staying in the Hospital for the first time might want to know, including where to find different services like the cafeteria, the chapel, or specific medical services and important information for patients and families like visiting hours and Hospital rules.
In the past year alone, St. Mary’s PFAC contributed over 300 volunteer hours and received 17 requests for participation, which they fulfilled with a 94 per cent success rate.
Creating a future of patient-centred care
In April, the boards of St. Mary's and Grand River announced they had independently voted in favour of coming together and began the process of a voluntary merger into a single hospital organization. And, the PFACs from both Hospitals are excited by the opportunities ahead to elevate the patient and family experience together.
This summer, the PFACs celebrated a new milestone, bringing the advisors from both Hospitals together to connect with and learn from each other for the very first time. It marked the start of the shift towards becoming a single, integrated PFAC that will serve the new joint hospital.
As we look to the future, Hospital leaders continue to engage patient and family advisors for their input and perspective. Most recently, their feedback has helped shape the new joint hospital brand, and their insight will be critical as we build a new hospital site and continue to expand the care and services we provide.
To create a truly patient- and family-centered approach to care, we must engage the patients and families that we serve, and St. Mary's is grateful to its dedicated team of patient and family advisors who make this work possible, both now and for the generations to come.
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