Family Advisory Council Committees

Executive Committee

This committee is charged with identifying strategies for moving the work of the council forward and recruiting the involvement of family and staff members serving on the Family Advisory Council. The committee further supports family involvement in hospital councils, committees, and special projects. It is also charged with nominating members for council and for finding individuals willing to serve in the various council officer positions and with facilitating the mentor project that matches new and experienced council members. The Executive Committee addresses ways to enhance communications within the Family Advisory Council to increase participation of all members in council activities. The committee meets prior to each council meeting to develop an agenda and discuss council activities and supportive initiatives. Members of this committee include current officers of the Family Advisory Council, past council chairs, committee chairs and the lead hospital staff support for the Family Advisory Council and sub committees. The group is chaired by the council’s immediate past chair.  

Education Committee

This committee facilitates and promotes educational initiatives that advance Family Centered Care. Activities may include the enhancement of print or web-based information; supporting hospital education committees; and involvement in special events and projects with an educational focus or goal. Current activities include providing input for Edutainment by reviewing Get Well Network videos; training new parent volunteers for committee participation; and hosting Cookies & Conversation gatherings to assess parent satisfaction with family centered care.

Notable Achievements

  • To increase staff understanding of the value of Family Care Conferences, FAC members filmed video vignettes to share their personal stories about how these conferences can impact the delivery of care as well as the care plan. (2016)
  • A multi-year focus on increasing families’ participation in Family Centered Rounds has led to improvements in family handouts and a video demonstration that plays on the Edutainment system for all inpatient families. (2016)
  • Dedicated FAC members built a strong partnership with Community Development for All People. The FAC is better connecting with the families in the neighborhood around Nationwide Children’s while also making a positive impact on their First Birthdays program and through donations. (2015)
  • FAC members collaborate with Emergency Medicine on national research endeavors, including the federally funded Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). Members continue to provide insight and counsel into national research projects from a family perspective. (2015)
  • Dedicated FAC members partnered with Social Work to present Special Education Advocacy: Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), a workshop. Attendees learned how to write effective IEPs with measurable goals and objectives, how to advocate for the child and the steps to take when in disagreement with the child’s IEP. (2015)
  • The FAC partnered with our chief nursing officer to create an opportunity for parents who have spent time in the hospital to connect with parents currently on inpatient units. These meetings, called Cookies & Conversation, allow FAC members to function as mentors and peers while they share their knowledge of the hospital. (2015)
  • Inpatients and families experience the hospital’s Edutainment feature through their in-room TVs. The FAC provides ongoing support as a review board for many of the videos and resources featured on the system. (2014)
  • Families are a vital part of our care team and the FAC helped our medical staff to better partner with families during Family Centered Rounds. (2012)

Hospital Experience Committee

This committee engages families and staff members in projects that support and enhance Patient and Family Centered Care experiences within the hospital community. Activities of the group may include initiatives related to hospital facilities, amenities offered to patients and families as well as providing input on supportive programs in the Family Resource Center. Current programs include MyChart, GetWell Network, Cap4Kids and the Family Centered Care Expo.

Notable Achievements

  • An idea for phone charging stations placed around campus was brought forward by members of the FAC. Thanks to their suggestion, the Family Resource Center was able to coordinate the placement of 40 different charging stations on main campus and many offsite locations. (2015)
  • With the help of FAC members, Nationwide Children’s Hospital moved care-giver shift report from the nursing station or conference room to the patient’s bedside. Understanding the value Bedside Report brings to both the clinical staff and the patients and families helped to shape the structure and approach. (2015)
  • FAC members coordinated and hosted a live webinar for parents called “Enabling Your Voice to be Heard: A Guide for Communicating Effectively with Health Care Professionals” by Wendy LeeBov from Language of Caring. (2015)
  • The FAC’s Hospital Experience Committee spent time wandering the halls and evaluating the permanent wayfinding signage throughout the public spaces on main campus. Recommendations from this effort resulted in improvements that befit families and staff who are trying to find their way. (2014-2015)
  • To help families with a child inpatient at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the FAC created reloadable Family Gift Cards to be used anywhere in the hospital for meals, coffee, parking, snacks, toiletries and gifts at our gift shops, even for prescription medications and towards hospital bills. (2012)
  • As many of our FAC members know, access to local businesses near the hospital can be challenging if you aren’t familiar with the area or if you don’t have your own transportation. With this challenge in mind, the FAC reached out to Security and Parking to arrange for routine Shuttle Service for Families to Local Businesses. (2012)
  • An annual event, the Patient- and Family-Centered Care Expo was started by the FAC. Staff are encouraged to showcase how the work they do makes a difference for our families. (2010)
  • Developing the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation Family Resource Centerenabled NCH to provide a permanent location for the services and amenities offered to families. The FAC initiated this project and consulted along the way to create the best environment possible for our families. (2007)

Communications Committee

This committee addresses ways to enhance communications for the Family Advisory Council through a variety of channels including, but not limited to, Internet, Intranet, staff newsletters, digital signs and social media. Major projects include the Family to Family Newsletter, coordination and promotion of the Partners in Care, Partners in Hope Award as well as management of the Family Advisory Council's web presence. The overall goal is to communicate the work of the council with hospital staff as well as patients and families.

Notable achievements:

  • To better identify the work of the FAC and the impact across the hospital, members worked with Marketing to create an icon to be used to identify when with the FAC is working in collaboration with another hospital group or when the FAC produces something themselves. (2016)
  • An informal poll to gauge the presence of unit and department based Family Advisory Groups led to a focused effort by the FAC to connect, promote, support and strengthen family advisory efforts throughout the organization.  (2014)
  • To communicate with families, the FAC created the Family to Family Newsletter as a vehicle to share news, provide insight and improve the overall family experience. (2010)
  • The FAC is proud to annually award the Partners in Care, Partners in Hope Award to an employee, health care provider or department in recognition of their outstanding achievement in care that reflects excellence in the core concepts of family-centered care. (2006)

General Family Advisory Council Achievements

  • Always a focus for main campus as well as offsite locations, the FAC further improved parking within the main campus garages. The changes made wheelchair loading and navigating safer and easier. (2016)
  • When Nationwide Children’s Hospital interviews and evaluates job candidates for high-level roles in the institution, an FAC member is often asked to join in the process and present the organization’s focus on patient and family centered care. (2015)
  • When Nationwide Children’s Hospital launched Everyone Matters, the FAC aligned with the effort by making a concerted effort to increase membership to be more reflective of the hospital’s patient population. (2015)
  • A FAC member turned a personal labor of love into a must-have resource available for all families by creating the Trach Binder. Celebrated by staff for her organized and helpful approach to information collection, the binder-based framework built by this FAC member is provided to families upon completion of Tracheostomy Education class. (2014)
  • The Child Development and Autism Center on Schrock Road received some family friendly improvements thanks to FAC members. Changes included a
  • more friendly color scheme, comfortable furniture, accommodating spaces, family friendly distractions, vending options and improved workflows. (2014)
  • Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s dedication to quality and safety includes a Quality of Care Committee of the Board, formed in 2007 to guide these efforts. In 2013, a seat was created for a FAC representative to ensure patient and family centered care was represented.  (2013)
  • In order to help our families connect with one another, the FAC initiated our mentor program, Connecting Families. The program’s mission is to help create family-to-family partnerships to promote healthy lifestyles and enhance the quality of life for the child and for their family. (2013)
  • The FAC functioned as consultants as NCH developed and refined plans for the New Main Hospital that opened in 2012. From wayfinding approaches, family lounges and the GetWell Network to centralized and individual unit play spaces, the FAC team helped to shape the building into the patient- and family-centered space it is today. (2008-2012)
  • It's not just patients who need the special attention and expert care Nationwide Children’s, that's why the FAC started The Clubhouse, a special place for preschool and school-aged children to play and learn while their siblings are in the hospital. (2001)