Patient and Family Advisory Council Guides

Patient and Family Advisory Councils or (PFACs) serve a critical role in addressing the safety and quality of healthcare delivered in hospitals and health systems. They exist in institutions around the country and in some cases, multiple PFACs work within a given hospital or health system, each focused on a different population or set of issues. SIDM has identified PFACs as key partners in addressing diagnostic quality and safety--a significant but often overlooked challenge in healthcare. To facilitate greater engagement of PFACs in addressing diagnostic errors, SIDM joined with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAM), to host a PFAC Convening in December of 2019. There, PFACs from around the country shared best and promising practices in addressing diagnostic quality.

Deriving from the learnings featured at the PFAC convening and further buttressed with insights from the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN)/SIDM Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Change Package, SIDM is happy to release these PFAC guides. They are intended to serve as compendia of best and promising practices for use by PFACs and for leadership in the hospitals and health systems in which PFACs are embedded. Each guide provides foundational education about diagnostic errors and tangible ideas and suggestions for PFACs and their hospital or health system leadership to employ as they work to tackle diagnostic quality and safety.