Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Family Partner Program
The Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Family Partner Program gives Spectrum Health’s youngest patients and their families a voice in how we deliver care.
Focus
The Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital PFPP works to:
- Ensure positive, nurturing care for every child and family
- Make care experiences as comfortable and worry-free as possible
Accomplishments
The program has:
Developed a photo guide to help parents identify care providers and their roles
Established “No Interruption Zones” in intensive care units so caregivers can conduct care without intrusions
- Helped develop key questions for parents to use when communicating with physicians about parental presence during their child’s elective surgery
- Helped improve communication with the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care team and parents during the “Golden Hour” — the time from delivery to being placed in the NICU
- Provided feedback on
- Ways to help parents understand the training and processes that go in to being one of the safest children’s hospitals
- Wording for the whiteboard pain-level chart in patient rooms
- The direct admit process to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital
- Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital’s design and some of the services and amenities provided
- Provided insight on the importance of including the family in bedside dialogue, making sure all questions are answered and encouraging communication
- Provided patient and family perspective on the specialty outpatient facilities, welcome center and self-registration process
- Reviewed safety and security measures
- Shared parent and family perspectives with student nurses and pediatric resident physicians
- Served as "mystery shoppers" to observe the effectiveness of teamwork at various sites throughout Spectrum Health
