NQF: Planetree
International has long been a leader in the healthcare industry’s efforts to
improve patient and family engagement. Can you tell us more about the
organization and its impact?
SF: Integrating the patient and family voice in healthcare
delivery has been at the heart of Planetree’s work since a patient founded it in
1978. Planetree’s health resource center, one of the first of its kind, provided
consumers with a broad array of information about quality and safety. It became
a model for hundreds of similar centers around the country.
Planetree also established the country’s first
patient-centered care model, with open medical records, patient-directed
visitation, and attention to spiritual and emotional needs. This model is now
used in more than 700 clinical sites in 22 countries. Today, Planetree partners
with healthcare organizations around the world and across all settings of care
to create strong foundations of patient-centered care. Through these
partnerships, our work has impacted millions of patients over three decades.
NQF: While tremendous
progress has been made to create a strong foundation for patient-centered care,
more is needed. What is the biggest challenge from your perspective?
SF: We’ve been at this for a really long time. To me it’s
wonderfully fulfilling to see that we’ve gotten to the point where engagement
of patients and families is finally being recognized as essential to
high-quality care. But despite all the progress that we are making—in part
because of organizations like NQF, in part because of organizations like
Planetree, but mostly because of the input of patients and families and their
willingness to participate—we still have a huge challenge in front of us, and
I’m reminded of that all of the time as patients and families continue to share
their stories with us.
I recently read about a physician who watched his
23-year-old daughter needlessly suffocate in an ICU to the point of brain
death. Not because of any lack of data, not because of any lack of technology,
not because of lack of a policy or protocol being in place to do what was
needed, but simply because staff were not willing to listen to the patient as
she repeatedly struggled with her breathing and tried to convey that. Staff
also wouldn’t listen to the patient’s father, who repeatedly asked for a trachea
kit in her room in case her airway failed and they needed to resuscitate her.
It was for that reason alone—that lack of sensitivity to the patient and the
family voice—that these sorts of tragedies still happen. They happen every day
in hospitals around this country.
NQF: What does being
recognized with NQF’s Consumers and Patients for Quality Award mean for
Planetree International?
SF: I was very, very honored to accept this award, which recognizes
not only Planetree but the countless patients, families, and healthcare
professionals with whom we have worked nearly four decades to try to make a
better, safer healthcare system. I’m hopeful that this recognition will keep
the spotlight on the importance of engaging patients and facilitating
compassionate interactions in healthcare, and that the community of individuals
and organizations that have joined us in this vital work will continue to grow.
