New JHM Goals for Patient- and Family-Centered Care

To all of Johns Hopkins Medicine

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your commitment to making Johns Hopkins Medicine a national leader in patient safety and quality. Together, we have already made impressive strides in improving hand hygiene, reducing central line-associated catheter infections and following best practices known as the core measures. These successes show that we can accomplish great things when we set a goal, commit resources to meeting those goals, engage employees in devising improvements and hold ourselves accountable. Now we will apply the same approach to become an organization that consistently delivers patient- and family-centered care. 

When we talk about patient- and family-centered care, we're referring to our support of the active involvement of patients—people who come to us from near and far for everything from routine surgery to innovative treatments for rare diseases to the delivery of a baby. At the very core of this concept is that we treat our patients and their loved ones the way we'd want to be treated.

What does this mean?

• Be kind and compassionate
• Smile, be pleasant and interact warmly with patients and visitors
• Listen and communicate in a way that they'll understand
• Be available when we're needed
• Coordinate their care in a professional manner

In past years, our goal for patient- and family-centered care was to achieve average. But this is Johns Hopkins, where we strive for excellence in all that we do, and with your help we will strive to lead the nation in delivering the best experience for patients and their families.

The Strategic Plan sets a new performance target for patient- and family-centered care: We will perform in the top quartile in every domain of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS, surveys completed by our patients. This includes the various surveys for our hospitals, for our home care group, for our academic and community physician practices, and for our health plan participants.

Whether you provide patient care in the hospital or community or support those who do, you have an important role. Consider what you can do to make sure our patients have a positive, healing experience and look for more information on this critical initiative in the coming months. Be sure to take a few minutes to watch this video. The stories shared by our patients, providers and administrators are just a few examples that we hope will challenge you to think differently about all of the ways, big and small, you can help improve our patients' experiences.   
Sincerely,

William Baumgartner
Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Senior Vice President for the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians

Gene E. Green
President, Suburban Hospital 

Judy A. Reitz
Vice President for Quality Improvement, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Vice President of Operations Integration, Johns Hopkins Health System
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Peter J. Pronovost
Director, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Senior Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine