Parents have a Voice at Goryeb Children’s Hospital at Morristown Memorial

When was the last time you had a great idea and a big institution not only welcomed your opinion but sought out your views and put them into practice? At Goryeb Children’s Hospital, this has become standard operating procedure. Through the newly formed Goryeb Family Advisory Council and other initiatives, the pediatric hospital has made progressive changes in its quest to deliver family-centered care.

The culture change at Goryeb is directly linked to R Baby Foundation, which recently provided a $90,000 grant to further bolster pediatric care by striving to improve communication between parents and hospital staff. This grant marks the renewal of a $100,000 grant delivered to Goryeb Children’s Hospital last year.

“Developing a family-centered care approach instead of a provider-centered model encourages true collaboration, a better exchange of ideas and shared decision making,” says Andrew Rabinowitz, co-president of R Baby Foundation. “The grant provides training to promote better communication, reduce medical errors and save lives in the Joan and Edward Foley Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and the Gagnon Pediatric Emergency Department.”
  
Mr. Rabinowitz and his wife, Phyllis, started R Baby Foundation after their nine-day-old daughter, Rebecca, died from a misdiagnosed, untreated viral infection, after she was taken to another hospital in 2006. “We felt the physician did not listen to our concern for our daughter’s health, as she refused to re-admit or do further testing,” says Mrs. Rabinowitz, co-president of R Baby Foundation. “We are confident that this program at Goryeb will help other families to have increased confidence and communication, ultimately leading to the best possible health care outcome.”  Through the foundation, the Short Hills couple has transformed their tragedy into an opportunity to reduce infant mortality rates nationwide.

At Goryeb, the grant led to the implementation of a rapid response team that families can contact for a second opinion within the hospital. “I believe this could have saved Rebecca’s life in the other hospital, since the misdiagnosis would have been thoroughly reviewed by another team of medical experts,” says Mrs. Rabinowitz.

In addition, the grant invites collaboration with the Maryland-based Institute for Family Centered Care (IFCC), which has been assessing current methods at the hospital and helping it transition from a traditional provider-focused approach to one in which the patient and family are at the center. The project has enabled Goryeb to expand its Parent Advisory Board and create the Goryeb Family Advisory Council, a group of parents who advise hospital administrators and medical leaders about patient needs and hospital priorities from a family perspective.

Profound changes have been made at Goryeb through the council’s efforts. Doors to the Foley PICU are no longer locked and visiting hours for parents have been abolished. In addition, the age requirement for visitors was lifted so that siblings are welcome. Parents are also now invited to participate in their child’s daily medical rounds, which are conducted at the Foley PICU patient’s bedside instead of the hallway to promote better communication.

Since the family-centered care initiative began at Goryeb, success can be seen in a rise in Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores. The overall pediatric ED percentile ranking rose from the 78th percentile for January through June 2008, to the 94th percentile for July through December 2008, after the program was implemented.

“We’re seeing positive changes at Goryeb, and our efforts to incorporate the model of ‘Families First’ care will only improve our delivery of high-quality pediatric care,” says Walter Rosenfeld, MD, FAAP, chairman of pediatrics at Goryeb. Future plans include extending the family-centered care model to Goryeb’s pediatric inpatient unit, Sam’s NICU, Gagnon Pediatric Emergency Department and Overlook Hospital.

Morristown Memorial is home to one of the finest pediatric centers in the region. Goryeb Children’s Hospital addresses the medical needs of children from birth to age 21, with board-certified specialists from all the major pediatric disciplines and more than 100 pediatric sub-specialists. Opened in 2002, Goryeb cares for more than 50,000 children annually and sees approximately 20,000 patients at the Gagnon Children’s Emergency Department. Specialists provide around-the-clock coverage of the pediatric ED, a protocol that R Baby Foundation advocates. The nine-bed Foley PICU provides comprehensive care to patients with acute life-threatening illness and trauma.
R Baby Foundation is the first and only not-for-profit foundation focused on saving babies lives through improving pediatric emergency care. Founded in 2006, R Baby Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that babies suffering from viral infections and other diseases receive the highest quality of care and service through supporting life-saving pediatric training, education, research, treatment and equipment. Last year, over $650,000 was raised from R Baby Foundation’s  Mother’s Day run/walk in Central Park on May 10.