Patient and Family Advisory Council Improves Safety, Quality and the Patient Experience

Working Together to Serve Our Communities Better at Jersey City Medical Center

At Jersey City Medical Center, we are committed to listening to the voices of our patients and their family members and acting on their feedback to improve the patient experience. If you have been a patient or a family member of a patient who has been treated here, we invite you to join our Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC).

Our PFAC is composed of a group of current and former patients, families and hospital staff who work together to improve the patient experience and quality of care.

The PFAC Mission

The PFAC is dedicated to strengthening collaboration between patients and family members and the health care team to enhance Jersey City Medical Center's ability to deliver the highest standard of safe, comprehensive and compassionate care.

What Does a PFAC Do?

The PFAC helps to improve programs, services and policies within the organization and promote a culture of patient- and family-centered care. Our PFAC helps us learn from patients' diverse perspectives and firsthand experiences and integrate their ideas into service delivery and quality improvement efforts. PFAC members work closely with our Patient Experience Team, connecting the patients and families with medical staff, clinicians and administrators as partners to improve care delivery.

For example, a current project includes review of the telehealth service, including the patient portal and scheduling, to discuss how to encourage and improve the service, especially for seniors.currently The PFAC also provides ongoing patient satisfaction survey input. The committee is periodically informed of the most recent patient satisfaction scores and provides their perspectives on the survey questions and what the best possible patient experience would look like.

Meet Our Advisory Council Members

Accomplishments

PFACs are a proven approach for health care organizations to form a partnership that improves patient and family experiences. Some of the ways our PFAC has made a difference at Jersey City Medical Center include:

• Helped coordinate a virtual town hall webinar around Covid-19 for the communities who have minimal access to resources

• Serve on Handwashing committee and participate in handwashing rounds

• Participated in rounding on patients

• Met with administrators to discuss the patient experience, including child development, neonatal clinic experience. Helped celebrate consecutive years with no infections; now in the seventh year.

• Went into the emergency room for rounds to ask patients how their day has been and if they have any concerns

• Focused on educating the public to raise awareness, educating clinicians, and outreach/teaching in the underserved communities

For more about how PFACs have been making quality improvements across the RWJBarnabas Health system, visit our Accomplishments page.

If you have questions or would like to join the PFAC, please call (201) 915-2977.