Patient- and Family-Centered Care

What if you could design a better healthcare experience for you and your loved ones? That was the question asked when Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare began our Patient and Family-Centered Care initiative, and it has become one of our top priorities. 

Patient and family-centered care is an approach to the planning, delivery and evaluation of healthcare that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among patients, families and health care providers. It’s an entire culture of service built on the following principles:

• Dignity and respect for the family
• Complete and unbiased information sharing in ways that are affirming and useful
• Family participation in care planning and delivery
• Family collaboration with clinicians in policies, procedures and staff education

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare is committed to equal partnerships with our patients and their families to create a truly special care environment. To ensure that commitment, we are enlisting advisors, called Patient and Family Partners, to provide guidance and input. These partners help us view the world through their unique and important perspectives by participating in work groups on special projects, sitting on a special hospital steering committee or simply providing input during patient- and family-centered care meetings. To learn more about our partners and councils, download our brochure here.

If you would like to become a Patient and Family Partner, please fill out the application and email to michelle.collis@mlh.org, or you can contact us at 901.516.0602 if you have any questions. Or, if you have had a recent experience with us, we would love for you to share your story.

By truly partnering with patients and families, we can improve the care for all patients.

Helpful Documents

The Getting to Know Me form will help your healthcare team get to know more about your personal preferences and what is important to you. Give the completed form to your nurse and he or she will place it in your chart for the team to review. 

The Doctor/Nurse Communication Tool can help you to ask the questions that will lead to a greater understanding of your care.

The Partners in Care form helps you select up to two contacts to share communication about your care.