The Heart of Care

Patient- and family-centred care is foundational to the PSFDH Strategy. It speaks to the strategic direction of “Patients & Families”.

Ontario’s Excellent Care for All Act 2010 “puts patients first by improving the quality and value of the patient experience through the application of evidence-based health care.  The focus is on health care while ensuring that the system we rely on today is there for future generations.”

More recent legislation, the Patients First Act, creates a more integrated health care system by improving the patient experience and the delivery of higher-quality care.  The Patients First Act helps to ensure patients are at the center of the health care system.

Our patients and their families are informed and have increasing expectations for care that is patient/family-centred. They expect to be engaged in organizational and system changes.

The purpose of this report is to explain how this is working and supported by the partnership between our hospital and families.

PATIENT- AND FAMILY-CENTRED CARE

The phrase “Patient- and Family-Centred Care” has become part of the healthcare lexicon. It can, however, be interpreted in different ways and it is, therefore, important to define what we mean by it. At its heart, Patient- and Family-Centred Care is built upon four core principles:

Respect & Dignity: We listen to and honour patient and family perspectives and choices. Their knowledge, values, beliefs and cultural backgrounds are respected and incorporated into everything we do.

Information Sharing: We share complete unbiased information with patients and families to help them participate in their care.

Participation: Patients and families are encouraged and supported to participate in their care and decision-making.

Collaboration: Patients and families collaborate with health care leaders in policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation; in health care facility design; and in professional education, as well as in the delivery of care.

All the principles require active engagement between patients, families, and staff at every level of our organization, and can be translated to work at regional and system levels.

PSFDH is committed to incorporating the Patient- and Family-Centred Care principles in all that we do and to build upon the PSFDH Principles of Dignity, Respect, and Compassion for all. We have much to celebrate and much to encourage us on the journey.

HEALTH QUALITY ONTARIO

A purpose of Health Quality Ontario (HQO) is to conduct research to improve patients’ transitions from hospitals to homes – through the development of Quality Standards for both hospital staff and patients’ home care-givers – which should improve the outcomes for people as (and after) they are being discharged from hospitals (and reduce re-admissions).

Actual patients’ and home caregivers’ experiences and recommendations are very important to ensuring that the HQO Quality Standard reflects their ‘real’ lived transitioning experiences (both positive and less so).

You are invited to visit the HQO website for more information.