Imagine that you are going to launch a new program, like patient access to their medical record online, and a visitor from another institution asks for a tour of the work in progress. Then imagine that it isn’t a member of the staff that does the demo - it is one of your patients. I think this idea would sound foreign to most organizations. It’s pretty normal here, and Christine did a great job, on her own, without any oversight or hand holding. This is the level of trust that exists here.

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I have actually never had a patient demonstrate their own access to the electronic health record to me. This was the first time in my career. I am so used to doing the demos and describing what patients want, and this was so different because it included the things that worked best, but also the hopes and dreams for using this tool to be involved in care. Christine not only did the demonstration for me, but also 3 Medical College of Georgia Students, and part of the research team on a funded project to introduce patient access into hypertension care.

In the hopes and dreams part, Christine talked about uses of the system that we might consider concerning as medical professionals, such as writing messages that conveyed a significant level of concern about her condition (she lives with MS), but when she explained it, it made sense, and it became not so concerning.

This was a theme throughout the visit - the normalcy of patient and family involvement in care. This was very evident in the 3W Neurosciences unit and Ambulatory clinic. Countertops are reduced or eliminated. The layout is open. There is no such thing as “visiting hours.” Signage is welcoming and participation is encouraged. There are alcoves for family conferences, and even computers set up for families to use. There is guest wireless throughout the hospital.

As you watch the Remaking of American Medicine show and look at the data associated with this tranformation, it’s very clear this is not only good for families and patients (and society), it’s good for business. Quality is up, mortality is down, patient satisfaction is up, profits are up - all the right trends for a hospital serving a vital population like this.

This organization of course is part of a health care system with many challenges - physicians and nurses have significant time challenges, and even the physicians in training here are at risk in terms of their future enjoyment of the profession. I casually ran my idea of a 4th year rotation on patient-centered care (which would include elements of LEAN such as process flow, physician leadership, and service and access methods) with our student hosts, and they provided a little balance to the concept and assistance with messaging. Matt, Kim, and Brandi reminded me about the immediate needs of physicians in training and the way that they learn about and commit to new training experiences. I’d therefore like to propose a rotation on success in practice beyond the diagnosis - enjoying work, life, and balancing both successfully. Being patient centered guarantees that this is the outcome for any physician, in my opinion.

The thing I am super interested whenever I meet people who have done exceptional things is, “Why?” I noticed that in the PBS show, Medical College of Georgia was an institution in which their transformation was not set off by a patient tragedy. So I asked Pat about this and here’s what she said:

What started this and kept it going and I may have told you this in a way is that we developed a value around the inclusion of the patients voice in our work from the beginning of the design process for the new childrens hospital. I personally was a senior executive back then and I was utterly transformed by the power of the patient’s (in this case, parents and children) perspective on what mattered most in care and I could see that this was a strength that we were denying ourselves as executive leadership. We also had very good mentors way back then in Bev Johnson and the Institute for Family Centered Care and I think we were just open to learning. Because I became so committed and over time could show the hard results in terms of outcomes so did the rest of our leadership. I think it is really that simple….just persistence over many years, Ted.

I think this is very remarkable - Pat and the Medical College of Georgia did not wait for a patient to be hurt to transform their system. I keep reading and hearing about organizations that transform only after a tragedy. We’re health care, we cannot wait for a tragedy, right?

When we were touring 3West, Pat, Roslyn, and Bernard showed me a plaque, signed by every staff member that represents their commitment to patient and family centered care. The first thing I did was look at the date that it was first signed, and of course wondered if it was up to date. As I did that Roslyn said, “Whenever we get new staff, they add their signatures, too. We haven’t had new staff in a long time, though, because people stay here.”

I can’t wait to see the innovation that will come from Medical College of Georgia in the launch of their patient access system. This will take Patient and Family Centered Care beyond their physical buildings and wherever patients and families live, work, and play.

With thanks again to the patients, families, staff, physician and leadership at MCG for being great teachers, so that every patient and family can be involved in their care, whether or not they are fortunate to be supported by the MCG Health System.

And, I am not going to consider patient access to their medical record successful until a patient does the demo.

The quote in the post comes from Roslyn Marshall, RN, Nurse Manager of the 3West Inpatient (Neurology and Neurosurgery) unit at Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta.

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Just as with several other organizations I have visited, I did not imagine that I would be heading to Augusta, Georgia to learn about how to involve patients and families in their care, but I’m glad I did. This is a place where so many things that are seen as abnormal in the rest of health care, are normal (see this paper for a description of patient centered care, with a focus on MCG). In an environment like this, it’s okay to ask “why?” when it comes to issues of involving patients and families in their care.

The occasion of my visit is related to a grant that Medical College of Georgia has received to study the use of a personal health record to improve hypertension care. With respect to the idea that being as close to the patient as possible is important, Ms. Pat Sodomka, Senior Vice President of Patient and Family Centered Care, hosted my visit on behalf of the organization.

Part of my study included watching the excellent program, The Remaking of American Medicine, which featured Medical College of Georgia in its last hour, and it was amazing to see how much has been accomplished both in involving patients and their families, and in transforming the organization.

Today, I’ll post about what I saw clinically. Tomorrow, I will post about what I saw systematically in this leading edge care system.

I began in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine, where practitioners and patients are both busy, and integrating one or two electronic health records in the care that they use. This is what I observed when shadowing family medicine specialist Bill Phillips, MD.

Besides data from their own organization, they need to integrate the needs of patients working to stay healthy in a system with an affordability crisis. In my own practice, I had not had to think about which big box retailer offers which drugs for $4 , or even free, as a loss leader. However, this is a big issue for patients. I reviewed the formulary for Wal-Mart’s $4 program - it’s extensive.

I was able to shadow the Director of the Osteopathic Medicine Program, Julie Dahl-Smith, DO, who is also board certified in Family Medicine, as she performed a manipulation visit and acupuncture visit for a family. This made me think about the value of patient involvement through a personal health record. The treatments that Dr. Dahl-Smith provides are distinct from the allopathic treatments that I have been trained to do. There’s an opportunity for patients to become more knowledgeable about the treatments that work best for them through patient access.

I spent time with Shilpa Brown, MD, who manages her own faculty practice as well as a residency practice and extensive student teaching. Patients in each have distinct needs. I also observed some key differences in workflow between private practice and academic practice. Faculty are ultimately accountable for 1, 2, 3 or more residents’ care, whether that care is provided in person or virtually. There is much that MCG will contribute in this area as an innovative academic medical center.

In between, I visited with the Neurosciences Interdisciplinary Rounding Team, which includes nurses, pharmacists, students, residents and attendings, led by Dr. David Hess. This is a unit, 3W (which I will talk more about tomorrow) that serves patients and families not just locally but regionally. What would it be like if a family member who is based far away from Augusta could connect with their family’s care team electronically? The team was open to this idea.

This organization is unique in my travels because it is a full academic medical center with many top notch training programs, which include a family medicine residency and an osteopathic residency. It is also special in the way it involves patients and families in the care, through its advisor program. The program reaches all the way into undergraduate medical education, and every new program seeks involvement. Patient advisors are free to visit MCG facilities and talk to patients and families about their care.

As I was being guided to the Internal Medicine clinic by Bernard Roberson, Director of Family Services Development, we passed by one of the “commons” (a different way of thinking about a waiting room that’s more patient centered) and a patient waiting to be seen said to us, “Tell me more about patient and family centered care.” It turned out it was one of MCG’s Patient Advisors, and I think we both saw it as a welcome sight. That’s how things are different here.

Tomorrow, a post about the system-ness of Patient and Family Centered Care at Medical College of Georgia.