Role of the Patient & Family Advisor
Winship Patient & Family Advisors are current or former patients or family members of patients, who volunteer to improve patient care while providing a patient's perspective.
They work in partnership with Winship's leadership, staff, and physicians by participating on committees, focus groups, project teams, and other dedicated groups.
Our Winship Patient & Family Advisors currently serve at Winship Cancer Institute (Clifton campus) and Emory University Hospital Midtown with programs being developed at Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital and Emory Johns Creek Hospital.
Core Principles
As a patient and family centered care facility aimed at collaborating with members of the care team, Winship and Emory Healthcare embraces the following core principles:
- Dignity and Respect. Honoring patient and family perspectives and choices and incorporating their knowledge, values, beliefs and cultural backgrounds into the planning and delivery of care.
- Information Sharing. Health care practitioners communicate and share complete and unbiased information with patients and families in a timely manner, enabling them to effectively participate in care and decision-making.
- Participation. Patients and families are encouraged and supported in participating in care and decision-making at the level they choose.
- Collaboration. Patients, families, health care practitioners, and health care leaders collaborate in policy and program development, implementation and evaluation; in health care facility design; and in professional education, as well as in the delivery of care.
What to Expect as a Patient & Family Advisor
From policy review, development, and implementation to facility design to quality improvement of patient care, our Patient & Family Advisors (PFA) help us enrich the care experience for patients and families by providing their experiences, perspectives, and expectations to the decision-making process while making the job of providing care an even more positive experience for our staff.
Examples of Winship PFA participation and activities:
- Quality, program, and facility improvement projects
- Department specific advisory councils
- Patient satisfaction committees
- Providing the patient and family perspective at new employee and physician orientations
- Sharing insights and stories on video for internal training purposes
- Policy review and development
- Assist with new PFA interviews
- Creating new Emory Healthcare patient education and resources e.g. brochures/booklets, etc.
Join Us!
Turn your patient, family, or medical experience into a volunteer opportunity to help others by serving as a Winship Patient & Family Advisor. Join us or contact us for more information, email Volunteer Services.
Download and print the Winship Patient & Family Advisors application and a more detailed description of the role from the buttons below.