Our patient- and family-centered care approach means that we recognize the vital role families play in ensuring the health and well-being of their loved ones of all ages, from infants and children to adolescents, adults and senior citizens.

As such we believe that emotional, social and developmental support play a major role in healthcare. We believe that not only does patient- and family-centered care promote the health and well-being of individuals and their families, but that this approach also restores their dignity and sense of being in control.

What You Should Expect from Your Healthcare Experience

1. Beyond Patient Visits: You will have the care you need when you need it … whenever you need it. You will find help in many forms, not just in face-to-face visits. You will find help on the Internet, on the telephone, from many sources, by many routes, in the form that you want.

2. Individualization: You will be known and respected as an individual. Your choices and preferences will be sought and honored. The usual system of care will meet most of your needs. When your needs are special, the care will adapt to meet you on your own terms.

3. Control: The care system will take control only if and when you freely give permission.

4. Information: You can know what you wish to know, when you wish to know it. Your medical record is yours to keep, to read and to understand. The rule is: “Nothing about you without you.”

5. Science: Your care will be based on the best scientific knowledge available. The system promises you excellence as its standard. Your care will not vary illogically from doctor to doctor or from place to place. The system will promise you all the care that can help you, and will help you avoid care that cannot help you.

6. Safety: Errors in care will not harm you. You will be safe in the care system.

7. Transparency: Your care will be confidential, but the care system will not keep secrets from you. You can know whatever you wish to know about the care that affects you and your loved ones.

8. Anticipation: Your care will anticipate your needs and will help you find the help you need. You will experience proactive help, not just reactions, to help you restore and maintain your health.

9. Value: Care will not waste your time or money. You will benefit from constant innovations, which will increase the value of care to you.

10. Cooperation: Those who provide care will cooperate and coordinate their work fully with each other and with you. The walls between professions and institutions will crumble, so that your experiences will become seamless. You will never feel lost.

 

Proud To Be A Pinwheel Sponsor

In continuing our journey to a patient-safety culture, transparency is needed to create a culture of improvement and learning. Below is a dashboard of key indicators and safety measures. University Hospital and Brown Cancer Center became a Pinwheel Sponsor of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care in 2010.

Pinwheel Sponsors are committed to advancing the understanding and practice of patient- and family-centered care, to making a significant difference in promoting this philosophy of care, and to serving as a role model of patient- and family-centered care.

The pinwheel symbolizes the Institute’s commitment to enhance partnerships among health care providers, patients of all ages, and their families in hospitals. The pinwheel represents interaction and synergy. When all parts of the pinwheel work well together, each part plays a vital role. This is our vision for patient- and family-centered systems of care.