Study: Many hospitals using core strategies to engage patients and families

Many hospitals are implementing recommended strategies to engage patients and families as active members of the health care team, which can improve the patient experience and clinical outcomes and decrease use of health care services, according to a survey of U.S. hospitals by AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust affiliate, reported in the July issue of BMJ Quality & Safety. The 2013-2014 survey is the first to examine the degree to which U.S. hospitals use a core set of recommended practices to engage patients and families in their care. Among other practices, 86% of hospitals had a policy for unrestricted visitor access in at least some units, 68% encouraged patients and families to participate in shift-change reports, and 67% had formal policies for disclosing and apologizing for errors. About half of the hospitals surveyed had adopted nine or more of the 25 strategies. Competing organizational priorities was the most commonly reported barrier to adoption. “This survey offers us a great glimpse into current practices around patient and family engagement and will provide the field guidance for their efforts to continually improve how they provide care to patients,” said co-author Maulik Joshi, HRET president and AHA associate executive vice president. The survey was supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.