THUNDER BAY -- It’s been five years since Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre adopted a patient-family advisor model.
Today they remain a leader nationwide in the field, still the lone hospital to have earned a lead practice award from Accreditation Canada.
“I think we’re leaders,” said Keith Taylor, co-chairman of Thunder Bay Regional’s patient-family advisor council.
“We really started the ball rolling in Ontario.”
More than 90 patient-family advisors can be found at the hospital, all with intimate knowledge of how the institution works.
With that knowledge come new ideas, many of which have been implemented over the past five years to help improve the health-care experience for patients, their family and also staff.
Examples include the hospital’s post-discharge follow-up program and bedside communication whiteboards.
“When we started, we started with roughly 20 and grew from there,” Taylor said.
“Every council, every managerial meeting has a patient advisor in the room. Most of the time, they are voting members of the committee or the council. You just can’t really do anything in this organization without having the patient input. We are truly partners with the staff.”
Bonnie Nicholas, the hospital lead on patient and family centred care, said the program has changed the way the hospital operates.
The input of PFA’s is not only valued, more often than not it’s sought out when solutions are being sought.
It’s made the hospital what it is today.
“We can see what we’re really doing well and keep on doing it. And we can identify areas where there are opportunities to improve and work together to make those improvements,” she said.
It’s an area of great pride, she added.
Number one, it’s the right thing to do.
“If you live in Thunder Bay or any of the surrounding areas, this is your hospital. You and your family are going to come here to have care. So how do you want the care to be when your family members come? It really started back five years ago when we looked at our different models of care,” Nicholson said.
Once hospital officials learned what patient and family-centred care was all about, there was no other option.
“That really started our journey on patient and family-centred care. And it’s just been fabulous.”
The hospital this week celebrated the occasion with a fifth-annual Sharing and Caring Together Exhibition.
