title: Partnering With a Family Advisor to Improve Communication in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
abstract: Inadequate communication between medical teams and families can lead to errors and poor-quality care. The objective was to understand why communication between the clinical team and families was not occurring consistently in the pediatric intensive care unit and improve the system using a multidisciplinary improvement team including a family advisor. This improvement project used Lean Six Sigma. The team observed updates and collected documented communication, survey, interview, and focus group data from families and staff. Root causes of failures included lack of assigned responsibility, lack of defined daily update, and lack of a daily communication standard. Process changes were implemented, resulting in an increased mean documented communication rate from 13% pre intervention to 65% post intervention that was sustained for more than 2 years (P < .001). Including a family advisor as an equal member of an improvement team provides family empowerment and a greater chance of success in complex areas.
authors: Stony Brook Children's Hospital, Stony Brook, NY Czulada@gmail.com.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Czulada
authors: North Carolina Children's Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors: Patience
authors: P
authors: Leino
authors: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors: Tina Schade
authors: TS
authors: Willis
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: communication; intensive care unit; patient-centered care; pediatrics; quality improvement