THUNDER BAY – Health – As part of the 9th Annual Sharing and Caring Together week, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre celebrated a continued commitment to Patient and Family Centred Care and the successes that have been achieved.
Patient and Family Centred Care (PFCC) is the provision of care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient and family preferences, needs and values, and ensures that patient is at the centre of all clinical decisions.
“Our Hospital has come a long way since beginning the Patient and Family Centred Care journey, and continues to be a priority for everyone on the team, including the Board of Directors,” said Matt Simeoni, Chair, Hospital Board of Directors. “It is inspiring to see the level of dedication to PFCC held by all staff, physicians and volunteers, and the passion applied to enhancing experiences for patients and their families. PFCC is about being Healthy Together.”
In 2011, PFCC initiatives earned our Hospital a Leading Practice designation for Patient & Family Centred Care from Accreditation Canada. That designation has been dutifully maintained ever since.
“This past year, our focus has been to extend PFCC to improve and measure the quality of care we provide,” said Jean Bartkowiak, President and CEO. “We understand that ‘quality of care’ is multidimensional, and we’ve developed a Quality Health Care Framework designed to both define quality of care and give us a way to measure it. PFCC is a key component of our framework, and plays a significant role in ensuring our Hospital is providing quality patient care across all areas and departments.”
The Patient and Family Advisory Council, consisting of nearly 90 diverse and dedicated volunteers, is key to helping our Hospital achieve its goals.
“As PFAs, we are involved in every area of the Hospital and we do our best to represent the needs of all the patients in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario,” said Keith Taylor, Patient Family Advisory Council Co-Chair. “Having such a large number of dedicated PFAs to pull from allows us to place our PFAs on projects based not only on their interests, but on the skills and experiences they offer.”
To learn more about Patient and Family Centred Care, or how to become a Patient Family Advisor, please visit www.tbrhsc.net.
