171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
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May 2006
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
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L. Lyndon Key, MD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics |
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Friends:
We have recently begun to work together to establish a family-friendly and, more importantly, a family-centered focus for our
patients and their families. Family-centered care is not just a program change. It is a cultural change. Family-centered care
empowers families by providing them the opportunity to work with us to diagnose, treat and cure their children.
The key to the program is respect. For years, medical care has given prescriptions and dictated orders. While this is still important, we're now
adding to the mixture a role for the family, a chance to understand and help direct the care they want for their children. This means doctors,
nurses and therapists ask what a child's family would like to be done, how it should be done, and what could be improved. This means moving
out of the halls and into the room. This means listening and learning from the parents what their child needs, does, and wants.
[read more]
Feature Story
Working toward true family-centered care
Involve and consult with mom, dad, siblings and other family members in the care of a child patient? Of course! It seems natural, easy, a given.
Being open to input and questions from family members seems simple but is a concept that's taken a long time to understand and embrace,
says John Sanders, administrator of MUSC's Children's Hospital. And it will take some time for the hospital to achieve true "family-centered" care.
[read more]
Message From Our Medical Director
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
I am delighted to have this edition of our newsletter focus on family-centered care. Although “family-centered care” is a fairly new term, the
staff at Children’s Hospital has always practiced some form of it. It involves an organized approach to assure that the fundamentals of
family-centered care are used uniformly throughout the institution. There are a few specific items we will ask every physician to practice:
- always introduce yourself and the team to the family and patient; explain what your and the team’s roles are; give your contact information
- communicate the assessment and plan to the family and patient on a daily basis at an expected time; allow the family time for questions
- prior to leaving a discussion with a patient and their family, always ask if they understand the plan and have any unaddressed concerns
- allow family members to be present with their child in all minor procedures
Of course, these four fundamental precepts for the medical staff clearly do not fulfill the full spectrum of family-centered care but their uniform
application helps to assure that every patient encounter meets minimum acceptable standards. I look forward to working with all of our staff to fully
implement family-centered care over the coming year.
Update From Our Administrator
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John Sanders, MHA
Administrator
MUSC Children's Hospital |
An Amazing Transfer
For those of us who have children, it is hard to think that our child might need to be in the hospital for any reason. Our whole focus is
protecting our kids. When we take a child to the hospital, we parents often feel a loss of control over the most precious person in our lives.
To say that it's scary is an understatement.
For the staff and faculty of the Children's Hospital, this amazing transfer of control and care is an awesome responsibility and a privilege.
We want to share that feeling of control and care with our patient's family. We want and need the family to be involved in the care of their
child while he's under our care. No one knows the child better. To provide the best care possible, the family must be a part of our team.
With the help of our Parent Advisory Council, MUSC Excellence Family Advisory Council, and with pure compassion for our families, we are
determined to achieve this goal. We want family-centered c are to go beyond being a program at the Children's Hospital to become a way of life.
Darby Children's Research Institute News
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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A Success Year for Pediatric Research
When the MUSC Children's Hospital Fund, which supports the Children's Hospital and the Darby Children's Research Institute, aimed to
raise $16 million, fund advisory board chairman Tom McNally knew the amount was a significant goal.
"We were dependent on people making large donations to help us achieve that grand goal," says McNally of the organization, which
provides grants and other support to the hospital and the Children's Research Institute. "We contacted lots of people and gave them
as much insight into and understanding about what's going on with the hospital and research here in Charleston."
[read more]
A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Managing Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.) and Jessica Munday (Trio Solutions Inc.)
Web design: Brian Dadin (Trio Solutions Inc.)
Photographer: Barbara Maria
Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Michelle Macias,
Bernard Maria,
John Sanders,
Inderjit Singh
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Print Version