Children's Hospital Hires Parents To Promote Patient-and Family-Centered Care

Children's Mercy Hospital created a new paid position, the Family-Centered Care Coordinator, to ensure that the voices of patients and families are heard throughout the organization and to promote patient- and family-centered care.

These coordinators maintain and support various programs to elicit the patient/family member point of view and work to educate staff about patient and family needs and otherwise ensure that their input is incorporated into hospital activities.

Creation of this new position has led to an eightfold increase in the number of patient and family advisors available to participate on hospital initiatives, which in turn has resulted in a greater ability to elicit and address the needs of parents and families and has increased satisfaction among both parents and staff.