Princess Margaret Hospital Introduces Family Care System for Enhanced Client Service Delivery

The Princess Margaret Hospital in St. Thomas has taken steps to enhance patient service delivery through the introduction of its Family Care System.

Speaking during a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ on Thursday (February 20), Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Dr. Dwight Whittle, explained that the system is designed to strike “a happy medium” between relatives of patients and their physicians, as they seek information on the health status of their family members.

He said the feature allows patients and their families to have a sit-down dialogue with their physicians, “to discuss the patient’s progress, or lack thereof, as well as the resources that the hospital may or may not have and how we can negotiate these constraints”.

The SMO pointed out that this discourse allows families to express concerns they may have with the care being administered to their relatives.

He added that the physicians are also at liberty to initiate the discussion if they feel the need to do so with the family regarding care of a patient.

“Over the past decade, we have tried to make the patient experience better. We take complaints very seriously and we have taken steps to mitigate unfavourable events that a patient may experience during their course in the hospital,” Dr. Whittle said.

He indicated that following his appointment as SMO, he discerned that most family members would collate information on their relatives by going to the hospital during visiting hours, which are generally times that the physicians would not normally be available.

Recognising that the visiting hours would be after the physicians’ regular work day or at times when they would be otherwise occupied, Dr. Whittle established a goal to mitigate this by facilitating a sit-down between the physician and patients’ relatives at mutually agreed times.

The SMO explained that the family conference is initiated at the Medical Records Department.

“The family member would either call or visit the Department. The Medical Records Department would, in turn, make contact with the attending physician and they would ascertain a time that is convenient for both,” he explained. Dr. Whittle pointed out that this could be for a patient who is on the ward or a client who has been discharged, is at home and wants an update.

“The docket of the patient would be provided and a record made in the docket about who is present, as well as a brief summary of the discussion. Any concerns that the patient or their relatives may have are also recorded,” the SMO said.

Dr. Whittle added that the Medical Records Department would also keep a log of the meeting in the patients notes.

“While we discuss with patients, it is important that we record it and share with the patients and, in the future, we can make reference to the Family Care Conference, if necessary,” he further pointed out.

The SMO noted that the Family Care Conference began with one service and subsequently expanded to involve all of those provided by the facility.

“So it is the standard of care at Princess Margaret Hospital, and it is offered for all patients who are admitted to the institution. For the future, we would like to augment and strengthen this programme and allow for patients to be aware of it and to make use of it,” Dr. Whittle said.