Three Win Family Advisory Council Award of Excellence During August 2005
From left to right are Eileen McGuiggan, Gail Klayman, child life specialist III, Regional Center for Newborn Intensive Care; Lee Carter, chairman of the Board; Dorine Seaquist, RN, senior vice president, Patient Services; and Kathy Dressman, RN, senior clinical director, A6 North. McGuiggan, Klayman and Dressman were recipients of the Family Advisory Council Award of Excellence during August 2005.
The Family Advisory Council announced the winners of its Award of Excellence in Family-centered Care on Thursday, Aug 18, 2005.
Gail Klayman, child life specialist III, Regional Center for Newborn Intensive Care; Kathy Dressman, RN, senior clinical director, Pediatrics; and Eileen McGuiggan, a parent and founding member of the family-centered care committee on A6 North, were the second group of recipients to be honored for their work.
The award consists of a monetary sum and an inscribed memento that is given twice a year to two nominees -- one staff and one family member. This time, however, there was a tie, so two staff members were chosen.
McGuiggan, whose son was cared for at the medical center for his cystic fibrosis, has stayed involved even after his death four years ago. She has been a strong advocate for positive changes on A6 North, including the development of a resource guide for parents to help with medical abbreviations and a pocket guide to help them get around the Cincinnati Children's campus.
McGuiggan says, "I am really quite honored to receive this award, and I accept it on behalf of all the families on the committee. I work with Kathy Dressman, and the fact that she and I were both selected is a reflection of what our group is doing on A6 North. Our goal is to keep family-centered care in front of staff all the time."
Family-Centered Care: The Right Thing to Do
Family-centered care is a way of life for Dressman. She hosted the Institute for Family Centered Care conference in Cincinnati in 2002, and she presented at the national Institute for Family Centered Care conference.
Dressman has changed the concept of information sharing by allowing patients and families to review the medical record, and she has made discharge planning a shared event with parents and staff on her unit.
"Moving the philosophy of family-centered care forward here at Cincinnati Children's has been my passion for the past nine years," says Dressman. "I have had opportunities to work on hospital-wide projects, Patient Services initiatives and my own unit-based activities.
Partnering with families just makes sense! Setting up the systems and processes to make each patient / family experience the best it can be has been very exciting and rewarding work," says Dressman. "When I lecture and consult nationally on family-centered care, I'm proud to represent Cincinnati Children's and all the great work we are doing."
Meanwhile, Klayman has been working on family-centered care long before the medical center put any formal practices in place. She initiated the change in the Cincinnati Children's visitation policy to allow parents access to their children 24 hours a day and developed a sibling visitation policy.
Klayman put together bereavement packets for families whose children had died and coauthored two books for education of families on gastrostomy tubes and tracheostomies, both of which have been translated into Spanish.
Says Klayman, "It hasn't been an effort for me to practice family-centered care for the past 33 years because it's the right thing to do. We don't operate in a vacuum. What we do involves team players and caring families. I have a passion for families, and I consider it a privilege to work with them."
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