Patient- and Family-Centered Care

What is PFCC?

PFCC is about partnering with our patients and their families to provide exceptional care through transparency and shared decision making. Our patients and their families have valuable insights that can improve the delivery, quality and safety of the care we provide. Through this partnership we will achieve the best possible outcomes.

The core principles are:

• DIGNITY AND RESPECT To listen to and honor patient and family ideas and choices and to use patient and family knowledge, values, beliefs and cultural backgrounds to improve care planning and delivery.

• INFORMATION SHARING To communicate and share complete and unbiased information with patients and families in useful ways. Patients and families receive timely, complete and accurate details so they can take part in care and decision making.

• PARTICIPATION To encourage and support patients and families in care and decision making at the level they choose.

• COLLABORATION To invite patients and family members to work together with health care staff to develop and evaluate policies and programs.

What we do:

• OFFER timely, helpful, complete information about your care;
• EXPLAIN it in a way that’s easy to understand;
• ASK about and listen to your concerns;
• ENCOURAGE your involvement in health care decisions;
• SUPPORT your choices;
• INVOLVE family in ways that you wish.

What you can do:

• Tell us how you’re feeling. Help us know you and your medical history better.
• Repeat what you hear. Be sure the information you receive is correct by restating what your health care team member tells you.
• Ask questions. If something’s unclear, ask until you have the information you need.
• Tell us who you’d like involved in your care. We encourage you to include your family members in the decision making process.

For more helpful tips to guide you and your family while you’re in our care view our brochure:

Tips for Patients and Families

What we are working on to achieve our goals: In January 2018 the PFCC Steering Committee was formed at CVMC to promote the following efforts:

• Patient and Family Advisor Program: Volunteers that have patient and family experiences participate on projects and committees to bring the patient voice to the work we do. Learn more about here.
• Educational Workshops for staff: We’ve implemented PFCC education for staff and will be adopting a service excellence program in early 2019 titled Communicate with H.E.A.R.T^® to support our organization’s change in culture.
• Metrics dashboard: Visualizing our efforts from data collection and where to focus our intentions.
• Environment assessments: We’ve taken a look at the organizations environment to identify areas of improvement that may otherwise be overlooked in our day to day operations.

Learn More

To inquire about the Patient and Family Advisor Program, contact Volunteer Services at 802-371-4458 or cvmc.pfcc@cvmc.org

If you would like to share feedback about your experience or have concerns about care provided, please contact Patient Advocacy at 802-371-4350 or email cvmc.patient.advocacy@cvmc.org