Introducing the “patient-centered care” standards of behavior
The new Standards of Professional Behavior are based on Yale New Haven Health System's five core values: Patient-centered care, respect, compassion, integrity and accountability.
Over the next five months, managers will focus on a different YNHHS value each month, with four corresponding professional behaviors:
- May: Patient-centered care – Put patients and families first
- June: Respect – Value all people
- July: Compassion – Be empathetic
- August: Integrity – Do the right thing
- September: Accountability – Be responsible and take action
Patient-centered care means putting patients and families first. Four behaviors are associated with it:
- Keep patients safe and use high reliability practices
- Deliver the highest quality of coordinated care and service
- Make patients and families part of the team
- Ensure a quiet, clean environment
At the top of the list are safety and HRO practices, the number one standard of behavior. The CHAMP behaviors – communicate clearly, handoff effectively, pay attention to detail, mentor one another and practice and accept a questioning attitude – ensure an environment in which potential problems are anticipated, detected early and responded to quickly.
Involving the patient and family is the heart of patient-centered care: which encompasses dignity and respect, information sharing, engaging and collaborating with the patient and family.
Coordinated care and service are also critical; without them, there can be communication gaps, missed instructions, inadequate information or confusion about identity, time, date, place or other crucial details.
The fourth behavior – ensuring a quiet, clean environment – should be a given, although it is a constant struggle in hospitals. At the individual level, it's not hard to pick up after yourself or keep your voice low, especially on the phone. Cleanliness does not belong to Environmental Services; it belongs to each of us. If you can't clean something up, at least make sure you know the number for your Service Response Center. Similarly, quiet doesn't belong to a unit or a department – it belongs to each of us.
Visit the YNHHS intranet site under "References" and "Standards of Professional Behavior" for helpful training and discussion materials.
