Patient and Family
Engagement Affinity Group
Recruiting Patient Advocates
June 19, 2013
Agenda
• Introduction and Framing
• Carolinas HealthCare System PFE Data
Snapshot
• Patient Advocate Speakers
• Questions and Answers – Participation with
Speakers
• Thank you and Learning Event Close
Jason Byrd
Director of Patient Safety,
Carolinas HealthCare
System
Lisa Morrise
Patient Co-Lead for the PFE Affinity
Group
Patient & Family Advisors
Patient & family advisors work in a variety of
healthcare settings sharing their personal stories to
represent all patients and families in providing an
educated perspective of care by bringing authenticity,
empowerment, respect and inspiration to the design
and delivery of healthcare systems. Patient & Family
Advisor roles include partner, educator, speaker,
listener, advocate, collaborator and leader, ensuring
the focus of healthcare is centered on the patient and
family.
Collaboratively written by Patient Family Advisors assembled by the IHI at the 2012 IHI
Forum, Orlando FL
Leadership and Staff Support
• Ideally, support for utilizing PFAs (Patient and Family
Advisors) and having PFACs (Patient and Family Advisory
Councils) will come from the C-Suite (the Chief Executive,
Nursing and/or Medical Officers of the corporation).
• PFACs and PFAs may be administered out of many
departments, including:
– Nursing
– Quality and Safety
– Support Services
• Select key staff to serve on a PFAC
Numbers
• Try to enlist a diverse group of patient advisors
– Look for a representative group including a sampling of
your patients’ ages, ethnicity, language backgrounds,
geography and diagnosis
– Pull your demographic distribution from your data or look
at your service area census data
– Not every single discreet category of patient can be
represented, but you should try to include patients from
different backgrounds
– If you receive multiple referrals from, for example, one
diagnosis, use a few as advisors and save the rest of the
referrals for later recruitment
Numbers
• Please budget for a staff position to coordinate
advisors and funds to cover meetings and engagement
(similar to volunteers). Consider stipends for patient &
family time and/or travel related expenses.
• Advisors can actually save your facility $$$. One metric
you may want to keep track of is the money you have
saved due to advisor input.
• Advisors may help your facility achieve goals in many
areas, including improved patient satisfaction and a
reduction of harm across the board.
Reactor
Bernard Roberson,
Administrative Director of Patient and Family
Centered Care at Georgia Regents Medical Center
Libby Hoy
PFCC Partners
Whom Am I Looking for?
• People with patient experience in your organization
• Representative of the population you serve
• Distance from Diagnosis/Experience
• People who have constructive criticism skills
• People with a desire to improve care for others
• People who can be a representative voice
• Solution focused
• Partnership skills
• Teachable spirit
Where Do I find them?
SELF REFERRAL









•

Newsletters
Email Blasts
Outpatient clinics
Website
Physician Referral
Coffee Carts
Open House
Recruitment posters
Community
Resource Events
Direct Mailers
STAFF REFERRAL
 Support
Groups/Disease
 specific meetings






Lobby Surfing
Customer Service
Grievance Committee
Executive Rounds
Unit Staff
Community Mailers
Application
 Provides pertinent experiences
 Provides a ‘flavor’ of communication style
 States the commitment up front
 Identifies areas of interest
 Formalizes the process and engagement
 Self Selection opportunity
 Availability identified
Interviewing
 Panels of Staff sponsor and current
PFAC’s
 Staff member alone
 Phone interviews, with limitations
 In person interviews preferred
 Open Ended Questions
 Identify Communication Style
REACTOR
Alice Gunderson, Patient & Family Advisor,
St. Francis Medical Center, Lynwood, CA
Victoria Nahum
Co-Founder of H2Pi, The Healthcare
and Patient Partnership Institute
Challenges in Establishing a PFAC
Challenges
Approach
• Finding diverse members
• Modeling partnership
• Finding people passionate
about improvement
• Finding experienced people
who relate to the experiences
to others
• Finding diverse team
personalities
• Developing a shared mental
model about what we’ll do
• Ensuring security, privacy,
immunizations
• Broad solicitation
• Recruit both care users & staff
• Application essay question &
interview
• Application essay question &
interview
• Application essay question &
interview
• Application brochure/cover
letter, interview & training
• Standard volunteer processes for
security check, HIPPA & shots
Using a PFAC charter to proactively
prepare for likely challenges
Challenge
• Developing shared mental
model of
purpose/mission
• Modeling partnership
• Organizational support
• Attendance
• Leadership and teamwork
• Leadership turnover
• Finding the right fit
Approach
• Statement of purpose
• Co-leadership
• Executive +/or Board
reporting
• Attendance requirements
• Covenant (rules)
• One year co-lead terms,
annual elections &
succession planning
Questions
Next PFE Affinity Group Meeting
• Next Patient and Family Engagement Affinity
Group meeting:
• July 22, 2013
• PFECs: Training Patient Advisors to Work
Collaboratively