Group Gives Patients a Voice in Quality and Safety
Initiatives
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2011
Contact: Rob
Brogna
508-793-5394
774-317-0422
robert.brogna@umassmemorial.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/umassmemorial
WORCESTER - For family and friends of Philip Ekeson of
Worcester, a visit to the hospital used to mean long waits - sometimes up to
four hours - for an interpreter to assist them with communicating with doctors,
nurses and other providers in their primary language, Ibo, one of four or five
languages common to Eastern Nigeria. Frustrated by the situation, Ekeson decided
that something needed to be done. He heard that UMass Memorial was establishing
a Patient and
Family Advisory Council (PFAC) and looking for members. After joining the
PFAC, he became part of a workgroup to apply Lean process improvements to
workflow. The group piloted a new process for Interpreter Services which
dramatically decreased wait times and nearly doubled untilization.
The UMass Memorial Medical Center
Interpreter Services Department, which conducts more than 117,000 medical
interpretations each year, can accommodate 99 identified languages on demand.
Although UMass Memorial has on-site interpreters available for many languages,
for some of the less common languages, such as Ibo, they rely on telephonic
interpretation. The phones can take time to locate and set up, which previously
led to long waits. Thanks to the PFAC's efforts, the Interpreter Services
Department is now able to facilitate these interpretations in a fraction of the
time, enabling more interpretations to take place for increased patient
satisfaction.
Massachusetts is currently the only state in the United States that mandates
that each hospital has PFAC to facilitate patient and family participation in
hospital care and decision making, information sharing, and policy and program
development. At UMass Memorial, the 25-member council is comprised of current or
former patients and family members and key leaders from the Medical Center
including the chief quality officer, chief nursing and medical officers, and
directors of quality and patient safety and patient experience.
Patient and family members are representative of the wide and diverse
community UMass Memorial serves, with a range of ages, cultural backgrounds,
medical histories and languages spoken (six of the members speak English as a
second language).
"This is a true partnership with the Medical Center," said Linda Brenckle,
PFAC member and co-chair from Northborough, MA. "Many of us are members because,
as patients, we saw opportunities for improvement, raised our concerns and felt
that we were heard. It is very satisfying to feel that we've made a difference
in the quality and safety of care for tomorrow's patients and their family
members."
Included among the many accomplishments for the group are:
- Input into the layout and design of the Ambulatory Care Center oncology
suite, bringing a patient's perspective to things such as lighting, artwork, and
comfort and privacy of changing areas
- Participation in a Lean management process to help remove wasteful delays
and improve the timeliness of patient discharges
- Recommendations to the Interpreter Service workgroup to dramatically reduce
the time to access both live interpreters and telephonic interpreter equipment
According to Denise Skrocki, director of patient experience at UMass
Memorial, the Massachusetts mandate gave PFAC groups the opportunity to partner
with hospitals to make changes to improve quality and safety for patients. Our
PFAC members at UMass Memorial have had a positive and welcomed influence as we
continue to improve quality, safety and the patient experience every day.
"As hospital employees, we know the quality side of things - the metrics and
goals we need to reach, and the technical aspects of providing care," said Lori
Odell, RN, Clinical Quality Project Manager in the Quality and Patient Safety
department at UMass Memorial. "But we cannot understand and improve the patient
side without having the voice of the patient deeply involved in the process. Our
PFAC group brings the lens of the patient to the hospital's work. We listen very
differently when the patient is speaking."
UMass Memorial Medical Center
UMass Memorial Medical
Center is the advanced tertiary care referral center for Central New England.
The Medical Center offers a full complement of sophisticated technology and
support services necessary to provide the region with specialists renowned for
their work in areas such as cardiology, cancer, diabetes and orthopedics. To
learn more about UMass Memorial, please visit www.umassmemorial.org, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube