Education

The Medical College of Georgia is committed to providing education and professional development about patient- and family-centered care for our students, faculty, front-line staff, community, and campus visitors.

Family Faculty 

Students are introduced to patient- and family-centered care concepts through the patients' eyes. Family faculty, patients and family members trained to share their unique perspectives and personal stories, are invited into the classroom to present and to engage students from the multiple diciplines of allied health, dentistry, medicine, and nursing.

Interns and residents in the Department of Medicine will participate in groundbreaking research to improve patient rounds by incorporating PFCC practices, in fall 2008. Family faculty and patient advisors will help educate residents in this pilot project.

Faculty and Staff Training
Ongoing training for MCG faculty and staff includes lectures, workshops, learning labs, departmental visioning retreats and working sessions, and conferences.

MCG students, patients, healthcare providers, and staff are learning to apply Health Internet Technology (HIT) using electronic personal health records (ePHR). My Health Link, MCG's personal health record portal, enables patients and their families to record, maintain and access their own health-related information.

 

On-line Lecture Series
We are building a Web-based lecture series.

• Access guest lecture "Engaging Patients and Communities Using Health InformationTechnology."
  Dr. Ted Eytan offers lessons around parterning with patients using an ePHR. He shares insights into the changing face of medical practice when patients and their doctors interact and share information using web-based technology.
• System requirements: Java 1_5_0_5 is needed to view presentation.

Professionalism Forum
Incoming students from the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Medical Education, Medicine, and Nursing convene annually in August for an interdisciplinary professionalism forum. They are welcomed into the medical profession, oriented to the philosophies and ethics of the Medical College of Georgia Health Sciences University and formally introduced to the PFCC standards of care at MCG. Patient advisors often convey their experiences and respond to questions at the forum.

The 2008 Professionalism Forum theme is "Our Responsibility to Patients, Families & Communities." This year's forum was Friday, August 22, 2008 at the Imperial Theater in downtown Augusta. Two families of former pediatric patients at the MCG Children's Medical Center shared their stories and the role of caring healthcare providers. In addition, a MCG Nurse and a MCG physician graduate gave their perspectives as cancer survivors and the impact being a patient has had on their professional lives.

Conferences
Our annual PFCC Conference for faculty and staff features national speakers that advance safety and quality, promote patient and family partnerships, illuminate PFCC research, shed light on educational initiatives or share best practices designed to make health care safer, more efficient, effective, equitable, timely and patient-centered.

Previous conferences addressed the PFCC journey and sustainability.

• 2007 Staying the Course with Patient and Family-Centered Care
• 2006 Set Sail on a Patient- and Family-Centered Care Journey

Mark Your Calendar!

Plans are underway for a 2009 spring PFCC Conference with a focus on safety. Check this web page for periodic updates.

PFCC Learning Labs for MCG Staff (Internal)

Interdisciplinary PFCC Learning Labs are the backbone to teaching patient- and family-centered care concepts and practices to our front-line staff, unit managers, and the departments and divisions within the MCG healthcare system. Internal learning labs are a free service for the MCG hospital community, ambulatory care clinics and affiliates.

Internal PFCC Learning Labs are tailored to meet a wide range of staff and administrators' needs. The content varies depending on a unit's, department's or division's integration of PFCC principles and practices.

Examples

• PFCC Introductory Learning Lab
  • The four-hour PFCC introductory learning lab gives an overview of patient- and family-centered care. It focuses on PFCC principles and practices, and addresses their impact on healthcare quality and safety. The course is valuable for interdisciplinary unit staff (nurses, allied health professionals, social workers, discharge planners) as well as hospital administrators and program leaders. A variety of modalities including patient narratives engage and challenge staff to examine their care practices. Staff identify opportunities for developing, partnerning, and sustaining patient- and family-centered care at MCG.

 

• PFCC Leadership Development
  • For managers and administrators, learning labs offer PFCC leadership development, innovation strategies, and mechanisms for sustaining PFCC initiatives. Leadership learning labs are tailored to participants' needs. For example, a learning lab session for leaders may focus on developing and engaging patient advisory group partnerships.

For additional information about PFCC Learning Labs for MCG staff, topics and schedules, contact: kgrant@mcg.edu.

Educational and Consulting Services

The MCG Center for Patient- and Family-Centered Care offers teaching and training opportunities for visiting hospitals, health systems, health sciences educational insititutions, academic medical education associations and other health-related organizations.

Services

• PFCC Learning Labs
• Learning lab follow-up through on-site visits to your facility
• Hospital tours
• Contract-based consulting
• PFCC planning assistance
• Speaking engagements

For more information about these services, contact kgrant@mcg.edu.

PFCC Learning Labs for Visitors (External)

Our PFCC Learning Labs are designed to provide participants with a solid understanding of the patient- and family-centered care principles and practices, and their impact on healthcare quality and safety. A list of previous learning labs or the sample Agenda shows how the learning labs are organized and the kinds of topics covered.

Content

• Presentations that address PFCC research, the MCG experience, and the business case for PFCC using quality and safety outcome measures
• On-site visits to selected MCG units for a first-hand look at PFCC in action
• Interactions with patient advisors and family faculty panels
• Presentations by and dialogue with faculty, medical, nursing, administration, and facilities management staff
• Action planning

Who Should Attend?

PFCC Learning Labs are appropriate for hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers and other health-related organizations. Leadership development in PFCC is a key factor contributing to an organization's adoption of patient- and family-centered care.

We recommend a team approach to learning lab participation. For example, an effective hospital team would include nursing, medical, and administration representatives as well as a patient advisor(s).

Application Process

We are currently developing our on-line application process and ask that you contact us directly at kgrant@mcg.edu.

 

 

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