The Patient and Family Advisory Council: Providing a Valuable Perspective.

The Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) is dedicated to assuring the delivery of the highest standards of comprehensive and compassionate health care by CIHA. The Council is composed of eleven community members and two CIHA staff members, who advise CIHA and lend support through a myriad of ways.

They do this by working in active partnership with CIHA leadership to:

  • Ensure fidelity to our Guiding Principles
  • Help define and develop our healing environment
  • Influence policy development
  • Serve as Goodwill Ambassadors
  • Improve safety
  • Improve quality
  • Improve experience of care
  • Increase engagement
  •           


PFAC’s Goals

Advise: Work in an advisory role to enhance patient-family centered care initiatives at CIHA.

Support: Support staff and CIHA leadership in their patient-family centered activities and initiatives. Act as a sounding board for implementation of new programs and existing programs across CIHA.

Participate: Provide patient and family member representation to committees and work groups including, but not limited to patient safety, quality improvement, facility design, service excellence, ethics and education.

Identify: Identify existing best practices in patient-family centered care and explore ways to share and replicate those across the organization.

Represent: Represent patient and family perspectives about the healthcare experience at CIHA and make recommendations for improvement.

Educate: Collaborate with CIHA staff to facilitate patient and family access to information. Influence and participate in CIHA staff orientation, patient and family education and discharge/transition planning care management across the continuum.


A Little Good Advice Makes a Big Impact.

Our PFAC members are nominated by the community on a biannual basis and participate in CIHA-sponsored events.

Members are selected based upon the following criteria:

  • Recent experience as a patient or family member at CIHA
  • Ability to represent patient care experience
  • Willingness to work collaboratively and in an advisory role
  • Good listening skills
  • Ability to interact well with differing groups of people and differing opinions
  • Respect of others’ perspectives
  • Positive, constructive attitude
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality
  • Ability to participate in a consistent and agreed-upon schedule of meetings and potential

subcommittee efforts

  • Commitment to serve for a two-year term with potential to renew or step down at the end of

the term

 

Final approval for all PFAC members shall be made granted by the CIHA Governing Board.

 

For more information:
Contact Braley Cook, Nursing Administrative Assistant: 828.497.9163 ext. 6203

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