Self-assessment is considered to be a major component of learning in public health.1 It provides an opportunity for health professionals to reflect on competency-based strengths and weaknesses in order to identify learning needs and reinforce new skills or behaviors in order to improve performance. The MCH Navigator has been collecting data from our online Self-Assessment for five years and during that time have identified a number of data trends.
With over 2,000 completed assessments in the database, learners consistently report high levels of knowledge but low levels of skills across family-professional partnerships. This translates into MCH professionals having high levels of understanding of this competency but not as much self-efficacy in translating this knowledge into practice. In response to this need, the MCH Navigator has developed this implementation brief that provides specific learning opportunities that focus on how to implement and execute skills associated with family-professional partnerships.
Family-professional partnerships emphasize respect for patient values in individual care decisions as well as the role of patients and families as advisors and essential partners in improving care practices. One approach identified in the literature which supports the family-centered care concept is the Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology and Practice model (PFCC M/P).2 Developed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center by Anthony M. DiGioia and his team, this model identifies six areas of action and has been shown to effectively translate family-centered care “from ideal to real.”
View each of the six areas of action below and corresponding learning opportunities for: 1) Understand background/concept, 2) Determine barriers, 3) Collect data, 4) Foster shadowing, 5) Reflect on case studies, and 6) Address gaps.
Define the care experience for improvement, including the beginning and end points.
Create a PFCC Guiding Council to lead the effort and break down barriers.
Define the current state of the care experience through Shadowing, surveys, and other tools.
Expand the PFCC Guiding Council into a PFCC Working Group with representatives from every “Touch point” of the care experience identified through Shadowing.
Write the ideal story, from the patient and family’s perspective and in first person.
Create PFCC Project Teams to close the gaps between the current and ideal state.
References:
Family-Professional Partnerships: Implementation Brief
May 2018
Authors: Keisha Watson, Ph.D., MCH Navigator
Reviewers: Faculty and staff of the National MCH Workforce Development Center
