Letter from CNO, SVP Mairead Hickey
Dear Colleagues:
As a Department of Nursing our commitment to patients and families is to provide excellent nursing care with the best staff in the safest environment. As your chief nurse, I am committed to seeking out the voice of nurses to accomplish this vision. Together we are working continuously to build an infrastructure to shape and influence nursing practice.
This issue of BWH Nurse details some of our efforts related to providing excellent care to patients and families. Hundreds of clinical nurses and other staff have helped us shape the BWH Patient and Family-Centered Care philosophy statement to guide us as we create true partnerships with patients and families throughout the hospital.
We know that patients come to us for care when they are most vulnerable. We also know that these patients are part of complex family and social systems. Nurses are in the unique position to respectfully acknowledge and preserve the individual patient-family relationship to the degree desired by the patient. We are learning more about how patients and their families need to understand and contribute to patient care and to decisions around care.
In recent years, incorporating elements of patient- and family-centered care has been happening throughout the institution. In the NICU, the Parent Advisory Group has provided us with invaluable feedback helping us improve the care environment. When designing inpatient rooms and family space in the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, we again tapped directly into patients and families. The Patient Family Advisory Committee at Dana-Farber ensures patients and families are part of the care and operations of oncology patients. And on a hospital-wide level, last year we launched the Patient- and Family-Centered Care Advisory Group to lead the continuing discussion around improving the patient and family experience at BWH.
Many nurses are engaged in exquisite moments of patient- and family-centered care, whether teaching a patient and his wife about discharge or collaborating with NICU parents to improve lactation consultation services. My goal is to ensure that as a Nursing Department the pieces are in place so that every encounter with every patient serves as an example of our philosophy of patient and family centered care.
Sincerely,
Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN
Chief Nursing Officer and
Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services