Military clinics to welcome patients’ input

[unhappycamper]

Military clinics to welcome patients’ input
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, January 11, 2010

Europe Regional Medical Command officials are establishing a program that will enable patients to give their input on everything from scheduling appointments to the color of exam room walls.

The program, called “patient- and family-centered care,” will bring patient advisers into meetings where the inner workings of ERMC’s health care facilities are decided. The advisers, selected from communities across Europe, also will act as liaisons between hospital staff and patients.

First used at several hospitals in the U.S., the program calls upon doctors to be more attentive to questions from patients and family members, said Lt. Col. Ethel Roberson, deputy director of ERMC’s clinical operations division.

“Patient advisers will not have their own personal agenda,” Roberson said. “They should be able to look beyond their personal issues and ask themselves: ‘If I do this, how much will it help the people with the same problem?’ ”

Since 1993, about 130 patients and their families have served on 45 committees at hospitals with the Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. Patient advisers were involved in the creation of a breast health suite that focused on the overall health of women, rather than just diagnostics.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67154