HRHS Celebrates Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month in October

Halifax Regional Health System is joining hospitals and health care organizations around the world this month to celebrate Planetree’s seventh annual Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Compassion in Action.”

“When caregivers are nurtured and supported, they are empowered to build therapeutic connections with patients, allowing them to learn about the person beyond the diagnosis, and personalize care plans to accommodate their preferences,” states Planetree President Susan B. Frampton, Ph.D. Frampton.

With a goal of personalizing, humanizing, and demystifying healthcare, HRHS began its Planetree journey in 2005 by implementing programs consistent with the ten elements of patient-centered care; human interaction; family, friends and social support; information and education; architecture and interior design; nutritional and nurturing aspects of food; healing arts; spirituality, human touch; complementary therapies and healthy communities.

Today, patients and their families can see the results of the efforts in a number of ways from architectural design – think the healing gardens and East 4 and 5 at the hospital, the new households at MeadowView Terrace and the redesign of Woodview’s front entrance – to programs designed to help patients, residents and their families such as the open medical chart policy, patient/resident directed visiting hours, pet visitation, bedside singers, the C.A.R.E. channel, art work and art galleries, the Care Cart, Skype for patients and residents, the Care Partner Program, freshly baked cookie delivery, the Quick Admit process and the development of a Patient Partnership Council.

“As a health system committed to providing patient-centered care,” states Tom Kluge, COO, “we recognize our patients and residents as individuals with diverse needs. We want them to feel safe and comfortable in our care and we recognize that each and every member of our staff is a caregiver whose role is to meet the needs of each patient and resident. We consider our patients and their families to be our partners and we encourage them to participate in their care. Patient-centered care is the core of a high quality health care system and a necessary foundation for safe, effective and efficient care.”

Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month is sponsored and coordinated by Planetree, a worldwide, not-for-profit organization raising the standard of personalized healthcare by coaching organizations to inspire and enable their caregivers to transform the healthcare experience they provide. Halifax Regional has been actively engaged in implementing the Planetree model of care. To learn more about Halifax Regional’s Planetree affiliation, visit www.hrhs.org.