Using QI Methods to Engage
Patients and Families:
PQCNC MISSION AND
STAKEHOLDERS
a and Family Engagement
The mission of the Perinatal Quality
Collaborative of North Carolina
(PQCNC) is to make North Carolina the
best place to give birth and be born. We
achieve this via easy to execute, low
tech, increasingly minimal data
intensive, time-limited quality
improvement (QI) initiatives.
Stakeholders in this work include, but
are not limited to:
Providers
Payers
Hospital Administrators
State Government Leaders
Patients and Family Members
BACKGROUND
In 2013, PQCNC called upon its 55
partner hospitals to complete a self-
assessment of their patient- and family-
centered care practices. Through the
self-assessment results, three areas for
statewide growth were identified:
Patients and families serve on
committees and task forces; Patients
and families participate in the
development and review of educational
materials; and There is a patient and
family advisory council in place. While
these practices were identified as both
areas of need and priority by the
majority of partner hospitals, there was
no structured way for hospitals to
receive the needed support to engage
patients and families in their efforts.
METHODS
In order to support PQCNC Perinatal
Quality Improvement Teams (PQITs) in
addressing the gaps identified through
the self-assessment, two 4-month
initiatives were developed for
participating teams to share strategies
and lessons learned while working to
develop potentially better practices and
employ QI methodologies to establish
partnerships with patients and their
families.
NICUs and Mom/Baby Units were
invited to participate in the initiatives
organized by PQCNC to include
learning sessions, web conferencing
and coaching to support PQITs to use
QI strategies to implement elements of
the action plan.
Results from the Patient ACTION PLAN
Initiatives
Collaboration means that no one interest group is
always right. It means taking what you think and
what I think, and what someone else thinks, and
coming up with something that works for
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
everyone.
-B. Crider
Over the course of the initiatives, all
From: Essential Allies, participating teams were able to develop
Families as Advisors a standardized approach to, and build
support for, the recruitment, training,
and engagement of patients and
families with diverse perspectives as
members of their quality improvement
teams. 114 patients and family members
agreed to assist with quality efforts and
those who participated provided 220
volunteer hours. Additionally, over 1200
providers from multiple disciplines were
educated regarding the value of patient
and family engagement and were
provided with tools and strategies for
partnering effectively.
Feedback from patient/family
partners and providers was requested
following meetings in which patients/
family members were participants; as
was feedback solicited from providers
following educational sessions. Results
indicate that patients and family
members were meaningfully engaged in
improvement work, and that the
education provided was perceived to be
impactful in changing practice.
Results from the two initiatives
indicate that the use of a collaborative
model and QI methodology can help
provide hospital teams with the structure
they need to develop and implement
plans that result in the meaningful
engagement of patients and family
member as partners to improve
outcomes.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
CONTACT:
Tara Bristol Rouse, MA
Director of Patient and Family
Partnerships, PQCNC
Tara.Bristol@pqcnc.org