Carle Health is seeking patients and family members to serve on advisory councils at Peoria’s Methodist Hospital, and elsewhere across the Urbana-based system’s service area.
The program seeks a variety of perspectives and recommendations for improving the patient experience by having concerns shared with local Carle leadership teams.
“We want to make sure that we’re providing the best possible patient experience for everyone that we serve,” said Anne Bowman, Methodist’s director of oncology, and the lead for the Patient and Family Advisory Council [PFAC].
“Although we do send out patient satisfaction surveys at this point in time, it’s different to be able to dialogue with a patient or family member and really have a conversation. The patient satisfaction surveys don’t allow us the opportunity to ask clarifying questions or get more information, so we are very much looking forward to being able to implement this.”
All eight Carle Health hospitals either have an existing Patient and Family Advisory Council that’s seeking additional members, or are launching a new advisory such as Methodist.
“Patient and Family Advisory Councils are essential in health care systems because they ensure that health care decisions reflect the real experiences, needs and preferences of patients and their families,” said Brenna Kelley, Carle Experience consultant and PFAC coordinator. “This leads to more compassionate, personalized and effective care.”
Each hospital’s advisory council will consist of 8-12 volunteers who are able to meet quarterly, either in person or virtually. Bowman said they hope to hold Methodist’s first advisory council meeting before the end of the year, perhaps as soon as October.
“Eligibility would be anybody who is a patient we’ve interacted with, or a family member that’s had an experience with us that’s been positive, or maybe one where they thought things could have gone differently. We welcome the feedback,” said Bowman.
“They’re the best individuals to be able to provide us with information on how their experience went, and allow us the opportunity to understand what we’re doing really well and we should keep doing and maybe where we can do something a little bit different.”
Carle hopes to fill the councils with individuals representing diverse backgrounds and a variety of treatment experiences. Applicants will participate in an interview with group facilitators before being selected to an advisory council.
Anyone interested in participating can get more information on the Carle Health website’s PFAC page, or by email at carle.experience@carle.com.
