Mission

• Promote the safety, quality, and positive experience of care.
• Foster mutually beneficial partnerships among caregivers, clinicians, patients, and families.
• Embed patient- and family-centered care (PFCC)* into hospital policies, practices, procedures, and programs.

Vision

By creating and sustaining a culture of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC),* which embraces a collaborative partnership among patients, families, caregivers, hospital leadership and staff, our patients will experience excellent clinical, compassionate, and supportive health care.*

Identify: Identify best practices in patient- and family-centered care in Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the health care industry and share these best practices across the organization.

Advise: Work in an advisory role to enhance safety and quality of health care and the experience of care, by advancing the practice of patient- and family-centered care at Suburban Hospital.

Participate: Bring the patient and family perspective to committees, councils, and initiatives including, but not limited to those that involve patient safety and quality improvement, facility design, service excellence, ethics, and education.

Support:Support staff and Suburban Hospital leadership in patient- and family- centered care activities and initiatives. Act as a sounding board for implementation of programs across the hospital.

Represent: Represent patient and family perspectives about the health care experience at Suburban Hospital and make recommendations for improvement.

Educate: Promote patient- and family-centered care education across the organization. Participate in the planning and implementation of staff, physician, and volunteer education and training as well as promote patient and family education. Collaborate with Suburban Hospital staff to facilitate patient and family access to individual health records and to Suburban Hospital’s safety and quality performance data.

Evaluate: Evaluate how patient- and family-centered care improves the quality and safety outcomes for patients and their families, and their experience of care.

The PFAC will consist of up to 24 Patient Family Advisors (PFAs) from the community, representing the diversity of the Suburban Hospital community, and no more than 12 Suburban Hospital Staff Advisors. The goal is to maintain a ratio of two Patient Family Advisors for every Staff Advisor.

The structure and function of PFAC is intended to promote the culture of PFCC by modeling the partnership that is the essence of Patient- and Family-Centered care. The PFAC membership—patients and family members/care partners, clinicians, executives, administrative staff—work together in partnership. Meetings are structured to encourage collaboration, transparent information-sharing, participation by all, and joint decision-making. (See core principles of PFCC in footnote above.)

The PFAC will be led by two Co-Chairs: an elected Patient Family Advisor and an appointed member of the senior hospital leadership and assisted by an elected PFA Vice Co-Chair. The intent is that the PFA Vice Co-Chair will assist the Co-Chairs while learning about PFA leadership. PFA Co-Chair and Vice Co-Chair terms will be two years, which may be renewed through the re-nomination process described below for multiple terms. The senior leader Co-Chair has the discretion to name an additional staff Co-Chair to assist the senior leader and PFA co-chairs. In addition, the Chief Nursing Officer and the Director of the Office of Patient and Family Experience, or each of their designees, will be members of the PFAC.

Co-Chairs will work in consultation with each other, and share responsibilities. For example, in consultation with each other, they will select Staff Advisors to ensure multidisciplinary representation on the PFAC.

Suburban Hospital staff and current PFAC members are encouraged to identify potential Patient Family Advisors and invite them to submit the required application form.

The Co-Chairs and several PFAs selected by the Co-Chairs will serve on an ad hoc membership committee to review applications, interview applicants, and determine whether to recommend the applicant for full PFAC approval. During this process, PFA applicants may be invited to attend a PFAC meeting. The Co-Chairs will distribute the application, and any additional applicant documentation submitted for consideration, such as a resume. The Co-Chairs and the PFAs involved in the vetting process will share their recommendation, and the basis for that recommendation with the PFAC membership, that will then vote whether to invite the applicant to join the PFAC. Approval requires a majority of the entire PFAC membership.

As stated above, the PFAs are to represent the diversity of the community served by Suburban Hospital. In addition to the membership criteria listed below, diversity factors that may be considered in the selection of new PFAs, include, for example and not limited to, age, ethnicity, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability/disability, education, and socio-economic level.

• Have relevant experience as either a patient or care partner of a Suburban patient
• Contribute to maintaining a diverse PFAC, representing Suburban’s diverse patient population
• Able to fulfill the Roles and Responsibilities of a PFA outlined in this Charter
• Commit to serve for a two-year term.

• The term of membership and reappointment for PFAs will be two years. PFAs may request to be reappointed. A PFA’s term begins the month following appointment to the PFAC.
• Resignation will be submitted in writing or via e-mail to the Co-Chairs.
• PFA vacancies may be filled during the year as needed.
• Staff Advisors serve at the pleasure of the Co-Chairs and will communicate with the Co-Chairs if they wish to resign.

• The Co-Chairs will select three to five PFAs who agree to serve as the Nominating Committee for a one-year term.
• The Nominating Committee will conduct all aspects of the PFA Co-Chair and PFA Vice Co-Chair election as well as the process of reappointment of PFA members.
• The Nominating Committee will invite the PFAC membership to nominate candidates for the Patient Family Advisor Co-Chair from among the current Patient Family Advisors. The election will be by written ballot ahead of the June meeting or a special election meeting with adequate notice about the candidates and the election. A written/electronic ballot will be distributed to the PFAC members ahead of the meeting. Votes will be returned by e-mail or other written ballot to the Nominating Committee to tally the results, which will be announced by the Nominating Committee. Selection will be by a majority vote of the entire membership.
• The PFA Co-Chair and PFA Vice Co-Chair will be elected for a two-year term and may be re-nominated by the same election process as set out above.
• The Nominating Committee is responsible along with the Co-Chairs to keep track of when a PFA’s term will end and review requests for reappointment. If the Committee does not recommend reappointment of a member, the Committee will set out the basis for recommending against reappointment and submit their recommendation to the Co-Chairs for review and consideration. If the Co-Chairs agree with a recommendation not to reappoint the member, the decision will be provided to the member along with the basis for the decision.

Council Advisors:

• Attend each PFAC meeting, in-person or remotely, or notify the Co-Chairs in advance if unable to participate
• Participate in projects and initiatives that take place outside of the regular PFAC meetings
• Use the member’s experience and insights to inform the hospital about the patient and family experience at Suburban and ways it could be improved
• Participate in a variety of information-gathering activities to understand others’ experiences, such as discussions with patients and family members, open forums, focus groups, and surveys
• Serve on hospital committees, councils, and initiatives, bringing the patient and family voice to the table
• Engage thoughtfully and constructively around the issues and ideas discussed at meetings
• Respect the unique background and perspective of each PFAC member
• Be realistic and mindful of the hospital’s budgetary, regulatory, and legal constraints
• The Co-Chairs reserve the right to dismiss any members who do not fulfill their responsibilities under the Charter.

Co-Chairs:

• Plan and lead each PFAC meeting; ensure that minutes are taken
• Communicate activities and recommendations of the PFAC to the leadership of Suburban Hospital
• Work with hospital leadership and staff to identify ways for PFAC to collaborate on hospital committees, councils, and initiatives
• Empower Patient Family Advisors to be active participants in hospital committees, councils, and initiatives
• Review on an ongoing basis the literature on patient- and family-centered care and provide leadership and education for PFAC members and the hospital organization reflecting this ever-growing field of research and knowledge
• Prepare a biennial report in collaboration with the PFAC members
• Appoint the nominating committee and work with that committee to ensure and oversee the timely election of PFA and Vice PFA co-chairs and review requests for reappointment of PFAs who seek another term
• Ensure that at least one training be held annually for new PFA members, and give all PFAs the opportunity to attend

The PFAC staff co-chair(s), or their designee, in coordination with the Suburban Volunteer Office, will provide all PFAs with an orientation to the hospital and volunteer training to include:

• The hospital’s mission and goals
• The physical plant
• Hospital management and administration, and its relationship to the Johns Hopkins Health System
• An organizational chart
• Key hospital policies
• Safety and privacy training
• Confidentiality and HIPAA training
• Medical testing, vaccination, and other requirements applicable to all volunteers
• Obtaining a hospital ID
• Accessing the Suburban volunteer portal to record volunteer hours

The PFAC will also provide PFAs with an introduction to, and training in, the principles of patient- and family-centered care, the role of a Patient and Family Advisor, and how to be an effective PFA. This training will be provided at least annually to new PFAs and existing PFAs, should the latter decide to attend. The training will be provided by the PFAC co-chairs or their designees, including at least one experienced PFA. The training will include the following topics:

• An introduction to the PFAC structure, charter, and history
• The role and responsibilities of a PFA in bringing the patient and family voice to the operations of the hospital
• The principles of patient- and family-centered care (as defined by the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care)
• Tips on effective communication as a PFA
• Tips on building trust and relationships with hospital staff
• An introduction to hospital metrics, such as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), Magnet Status, Leapfrog, and other metrics
• Dealing with complaints or patient/family problems
• Additional Resources

Patient Family Advisors will sign a confidentiality agreement. PFAC members will not discuss or disclose any personal or confidential information about patients, staff, or hospital business with anyone other than PFAC members and hospital personnel working with PFAC. Members will protect confidential information from disclosure and adhere to all applicable federal HIPAA standards and guidelines.

Meetings will be held on a regular basis on a day and time that best meets the schedules of members. Meetings are open to non-members. In-person meetings will be accessible electronically via video or telephone conferencing to encourage and support attendance.

Agenda: Meeting agenda will be set by the Co-Chairs, in consultation with PFAC membership, and will be distributed to the PFAC membership prior to each meeting.

Meeting Minutes: Following each meeting, the minutes will be disseminated in a timely manner to all PFAC members. In addition, the minutes will be retained in an electronic archive, accessible to the PFAC membership.

Attendance: All members of the PFAC will make every attempt to attend every meeting either in-person or remotely during their term and will notify the Co-Chairs if they are not able to attend a scheduled meeting

Quorum: A quorum shall be required for votes of the PFAC. A quorum is at least 50% of the membership, which includes patient and family advisors and staff advisors.

Inclement Weather: Meetings will be cancelled due to weather following the Montgomery County public school closing announcements.

Termination: The Co-Chairs reserve the right to dismiss any members who do not fulfill their responsibilities under the Charter. If a member misses three scheduled meetings without notifying the Co-Chairs, this will be considered a resignation from PFAC.

This charter may be reviewed and amended as necessary. A majority vote of the PFAC membership is required to amend the charter. Any draft proposed amendment(s) shall be presented to the PFAC membership for a vote on whether to accept the amendment(s).