How Will This Module Help Me?
Describes 6 STEPS to form a Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC).
Answers frequently asked questions about PFACs.
Shares tools and resources to help you and your team advance patient and family engagement strategies.
The goal of patient and family engagement (PFE) is to create an environment where patients, families, clinicians, and other team members collaborate as partners to improve the patient experience and quality of care.1 Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) provide a proven approach for health care systems and practices to partner with patients and families to provide guidance on how to improve the patient and family experience. Health care organizations have embraced PFACs to learn from their patients' diverse perspectives and lived experiences and to integrate their ideas into service delivery and quality improvement efforts. This approach can positively impact care and assist with strengthening the delivery of patient- and family-centered care.
The term patient- and family-centered care emphasizes collaboration with patients and families of all ages, at all levels of care, and in all health care settings. Families are essential to patients' health and well-being and are allies for quality and safety within the health care system. Family members are more than surrogates to be called on when a patient is unable to make decisions on their behalf; they are essential members of the care continuum and care-giving team. Patient- and family-centered care acknowledges that social isolation is a health risk factor and hospital and ambulatory care policies and practices should not separate patients and families in caregiving and decision-making.2
Six STEPS to Form and Begin Working With Your Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC)
Ensure Leadership Support.
Create a PFAC Planning and Launch Team.
Invite, Interview, and Select a Diverse Group of PFAC Members.
Launch and Support the PFAC.
Initiate the PFAC's First Project.
Track the Results of the PFAC and Celebrate Successes.
Step 1 Ensure Leadership Support.
Generating support from leadership is the first step to developing and sustaining a successful PFAC. Identifying and involving stakeholders who will be involved with the efforts from the start assures buy-in, builds a foundation for successful implementation, and solidifies the value in creating a PFAC. It also aids in action planning later in this process.
Most practices and health care systems seek to be responsive to the needs of their patient population, but may lack the resources or the expertise and tools to make this happen. Commitment to patient- and family-centered care begins with top leadership who provide the guidance, flexibility, and resources to ensure that this collaboration is encouraged and proactively sought. It is not enough to invite family members to participate in a meeting; more context must be provided and deeper relationships created.3
Once leadership support is obtained, consider using a leadership readiness assessment to take a comprehensive look at your practice to determine where you can utilize a PFAC to its full potential. The assessment can serve as a baseline measurement to track results as you implement meaningful PFAC interventions in your practice.
Leadership Readiness Assessment (266 KB)A self-assessment to start a conversation among leadership to determine the level of readiness for launching a PFAC.
Quiz Ref IDConsider these items when performing your self-assessment to identify opportunities for integrating PFAC input:
Clinician and team willingness to be involved in a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach that includes patients and families.
Defining the anticipated role, responsibilities, and expected contributions of PFAC advisors.
Established processes and protocols for making changes to help identify who and what influences decisions about advisor involvement. Information about the team's experiences, ideas for changes and improvements, and questions or concerns about advisor participation. This can help prepare everyone to partner with advisors.
Evidence from surveys or the patient panel to determine which elements of their experience contribute to whether they remain with the practice.
Step 2 Create a PFAC Planning and Launch Team.
Once you have leadership support and you have determined that you are ready to launch your PFAC, the next practical step is to develop a small team to manage this process. Members of the Planning and Launch Team should include practice members who have the authority to commit resources and the time available to do the necessary work to get the PFAC off the ground. This often means including someone in a leadership role as well as someone with administrative expertise.
Authentic patient and family engagement means including them not only in the evaluation of your practice, but also in the planning and implementation of the PFAC launch itself. The earlier the patient and family voice is included in the process, the more authentic your PFAC will be. Including at least one patient or family member in the Planning and Launch Team is one way you can ensure that a genuine patient and family perspective is present right from the start.
Primary Duties of the Planning and Launch Team:
Create and Implement a Recruitment Plan.
Design the PFAC Structure.
Develop an Initial Budget.
A. Create and Implement a Recruitment Plan
Once you develop your Planning and Launch Team, create a recruitment plan so that you have enough time to publicize your PFAC. Whether you're trying to recruit patients and families to apply for PFAC membership or to attend an informational PFAC meeting, you need to get the word out. As a team, brainstorm on all the possible ways you can invite patients and families to join PFAC activities. Using multiple outreach techniques will ensure that your message reaches a wider audience.
In your recruitment materials, be sure to use simple and welcoming language that is easy to read. Consider having it translated into languages that reflects the patients in your community.
Open recruitment methods to select and retain people to serve on your PFAC include:
Outreach to the community via mailings, email blasts, or messages posted to your patient portal.
Use of your practice's monthly mailing, your website, or other marketing materials.
Holding a “town hall”-type event to invite questions from potential advisors.
Advertising at or attending community events.
B. Design the PFAC Structure
There are many ways to structure and staff your PFAC. Some are formal with explicitly assigned roles, while others may provide general feedback on various internal projects. Generally, most PFACs are a maximum of 12 members and 1 chairperson.
C. Develop an Initial Budget
Sustaining and running a PFAC takes effort and resources. At a minimum, the budget should include the costs to coordinate the PFAC, a meal or refreshments served at each meeting, mileage reimbursement for travel to the council meetings, printing materials, and any staffing costs. Plan for compensation of time, expertise, and any associated expenses for patients and families.
You may also consider sending individuals to attend conferences to learn more about being a PFAC Advisor, and the costs associated with attendance and travel.
You may also want to budget for other ways to show appreciation for PFAC advisors, such as:
Logo tote bags, pens, or lanyards.
Letters of thanks and appreciation from the organization's president.
Annual meeting with organization leadership to discuss goals and achievements.
Annual celebratory dinner with recognition of goals and work accomplished.
Step 3 Invite, Interview, and Select a Diverse Group of PFAC Members.
Now that you have developed the foundation for a PFAC, your Planning and Launch Team is ready to reach out to patients and families.
To develop your PFAC successfully, follow these steps, described in further detail below:
Clarify PFAC Membership Expectations
Commit to a Diverse Representation of Patients and Families
Develop Advisor Qualifications
Find Potential Advisors
Hold a PFAC Advisor Information Session
Select Advisors
A. Clarify PFAC Membership Expectations
Understand your expectations of commitment before you start asking for participation. Clearly communicating expectations can help avoid unnecessary conflict and confusion. For example, a document similar to a job description outlining the expectations can help both your practice and the applicants.
Membership Expectations Overview (45 KB)Quiz Ref IDUse this list to clarify what you're asking of members
B. Commit to a Diverse Representation of Patients and Families
Throughout the process of recruitment, it is important to have personal, individual interactions with potential advisors. Many advisors report that personal interaction is the most influential factor in helping them decide to become an advisor.
Since the essential function of the PFAC is to provide feedback, it's critical that you make every effort to include patients and family members who represent your entire practice. Allowing advisors to define what constitutes a “family” ensures that all perspectives are included. For example, this might include parents, guardians, grandparents, foster parents, or other caregivers.
There are many types of diversity, including gender, race, culture/heritage, age (of patients and of family members), language, socio-economic background, disease or disability, family structure, sexual orientation, religion, and educational level(s).
Consider including your young adult and youth patients. You could set aside one PFAC meeting to focus on teen perspectives. Some practices create special Teen PFACs to ensure that their voices are heard.
C. Develop Advisor Qualifications
While there are no special qualifications or expertise necessary to be a patient or family advisor, there are a number of leadership and collaboration skills that have been identified as crucial to success on advisory councils.
Potential PFAC member should:
Represent a broad cross-section of your patient and community population
Be willing to talk about their experiences and can effectively share insights in ways that others can learn from
Have the ability to see beyond their own personal experiences
Demonstrate a passion for improving health care for others, and show concern for more than one issue or agenda
Speak comfortably in a group with candor
Have the ability to listen well, respect the perspectives of others, interact with many different kinds of people, work in partnership, and bring a sense of humor
D. Find Potential Advisors
Remember that the most effective method of recruiting advisors is with a personal invitation. In conversation, make sure to describe what a patient and family advisor is and how to get involved.
To identify potential advisors, consider patients and family members who have:
E. Hold an PFAC Advisor Information Session
Before patients and family members can decide whether or not they want and are ready to serve as advisors, they need to understand the responsibilities associated with the role. The staff liaison can hold an information session for potential advisors to cover topics that are important for PFAC Advisors to know, to learn what might prevent them from engaging, and to identify what kind of training and support you will need to provide.
PFAC Advisor Information Session Ideas (46 KB)This document contains ideas that you can use to develop your PFAC Information Session
Patients and family members who are interested in serving as advisors should complete an application and interview process. Because PFAC membership typically requires a 1- to 2-year commitment, all potential PFAC members should be interviewed by the staff liaison and the PFAC Champion. Select additional interviewers as appropriate. Interviews can be conducted in person or by telephone.
PFAC Interview Ideas (48 KB)This document contains ideas that you can use to conduct interviews for PFAC members
Generally, most PFACs are a maximum of 12 members and 1 chairperson. Once you have made your selections, inform all applicants about selection in a timely manner. Not following up promptly with applicants may lead them to think they were not selected or needed. If there is not an appropriate match at the time, extend the invitation to explore future options for serving as an advisor.
Step 4 Launch and Support the PFAC.
At the launch meeting, begin with introductions of each member and start with a question that encourages discussion of inspiration and motivation, such as, “What brings us here?” Orientation to the practice and the role of the PFAC can be achieved with a short overview of the practice mission and the role of the PFAC.
You may also cover logistics of parking, future meeting dates and times, or other upcoming important dates for the practice. Other common exercises include taking a group picture to celebrate the event. As members join the PFAC in the future, plan for time to orient them as well.
One of the first tasks of the PFAC will be to develop a charter and action plan.
Develop a Charter. To develop an effective partnership, PFAC members should be well acquainted with your organization's mission and goals, the need for confidentiality, and their advisory role. In collaboration with your team liaisons, the charter should align with the mission and goals of the practice.
Your PFAC charter will serve as a guide for your practice and the council. Your charter should include:
Guiding principles for the PFAC, such as a covenant for how members should interact respectfully with one another and practice staff.
Clear purpose for the PFAC.
Clear roles for PFAC members.
PFAC Charter (44 KB)You can download this sample PFAC Charter and customize it for your practice
Create an Action Plan. Just as with other quality improvement initiatives, it is important to lay out a long-term vision while planning smaller action steps. This will help maintain momentum and identify meaningful immediate opportunities for advisor input. Quiz Ref IDYour action plan should include goals, measures of success, and a timeline.
Step 5 Initiate the PFAC's First Project.
Practice leadership or the PFAC Planning and Launch Team may have already identified issues or challenges they want to explore further with the advisors. Early meetings may benefit from presentations such as getting to know practice leadership, an overview of a specific workflow process, or bringing the PFAC patient-focused material to review. These presentations help to build a sense of community.
Once the PFAC is formed, brainstorm ideas to direct the group towards a common purpose. Consider at least one project that could be a “quick win” to build group momentum. Popular choices include:
Refining patient education or informational materials.
Improving user experience with the electronic patient portal.
Reducing wait times in your office.
Enhancing communication issues between patients, families, physicians, and other members of the care team.
Bigger issues that you may wish to consider—because these concerns are familiar to most and understanding patient views on these topics is crucial to improvement—include improving medication adherence, preventing infections, and preventing falls.
Step 6 Track the Results of the PFAC and Celebrate Successes.
As with any project, it's easy to move on before taking a moment to reflect and celebrate our achievements. This honors the work that has been done and shows gratitude to the people who do it.
By celebrating success, we reinforce the motivation that will carry the PFAC through the next achievement. Take the time to step back and recognize the efforts made, and do it authentically. Be specific about what was accomplished, how it made a contribution, and why it's important.
Track Results. Most PFACs find it easier to qualitatively measure impact at the beginning by assessing others' perspectives on the value the PFAC has provided through discussions or focus groups. As the PFAC continues to develop, you may want to consider more quantitative assessments. You can review patient satisfaction surveys to see if changes made with PFAC input has impacted scores or if patients have provided feedback. If your initial self-assessment revealed specific gaps that PFAC work helped to fill, that is a result that should be captured.
Celebrate Success. Be sure to acknowledge your PFAC's contributions by reviewing the results of its work together and then sharing successes with your practice and your community. PFAC members can also help spread the word beyond the practice through their own networking in the community.
Participating in a PFAC can be incredibly rewarding for everyone involved. Acknowledging the unique perspectives of your patients and encouraging them to contribute to improving your practice can enhance the experience for the patient, family, and the entire care team—and result in more efficient, effective, and higher quality care, and ultimately, bring joy back to work.