AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Focuses on Partnering With Patients and Families To Improve Hospital Care

The latest issue of AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchangehighlights hospitals that implemented new policies to promote partnerships with patients and families while advancing patient- and family-centered care. One profile describes how a medical center in California replaced its traditional visitation policy with a “Partners in Care Welcome Policy” that supports and welcomes the round-the-clock presence and participation of patients’ family members and friends, including minors. Flipping the traditional hospital approach that treats these individuals as “visitors,” the policy acknowledges that hospital-based clinicians and staff are the real “visitors” in the patient’s lives and recognizes the critically important role that family and friends play in the healing process by providing support and comfort. The policy has significantly increased the amount of time patients spend with their loved ones and has generated positive feedback from all stakeholders. No safety or infection-control issues have arisen since its implementation.