On Twitter tonight I learned from Dr. Sachin Jain of a November article that should be of interest to all of us who want to work toward full patient and family engagement in all aspects of medicine. To be sure, the changes we’d like are not always simple, and one example is expanding family access to the ICU.

Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) is widely known for being far far more patient-centered and quality-oriented than most medical institutions – including, in this case, even the really challenging parts.  I hope I don’t get in copyright trouble for pasting too much in here, but the whole article is Open Access (no charge) so have a look, under the heading “Problem: Despite tradition, genuine need to open doors”:

Over time we became more aware that this traditional model was badly disconnected from the needs of our patients. The Institute of Medicine emphasized that families serve as a healing influence by providing comfort, connectedness, energy, self-esteem and wisdom; there is little or no evidence to indicate that the practice of family member presence is detrimental to the patient, the family or the health care team. Indeed family member presence during invasive procedures or resuscitation should be offered as an option to appropriate family members.

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