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Family Advisory Council

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Structure and Responsibilities

Family Advisory Council Membership

The Family Advisory Council (FAC) consists of 37 members.

  • Twenty-one adult family advisors from a variety of backgrounds and family types
  • Two Parent Coordinators who co-chair the council and are parents employed by Cincinnati Children's to serve in this role
  • Nine staff advisors from diverse areas of the medical center
  • One staff liaison
  • One cabinet liaison (a senior vice president representing the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center cabinet)
  • Two members of the Cincinnati Children's Board of Trustees, appointed by the Chairman of the Board, who share a seat
  • Chief resident from Cincinnati Children's residency program (shared seat between all chief residents)
  • First- or second-year resident from Cincinnati Children's residency program

Members are selected based on the variety of backgrounds, experiences, and strengths that they bring to the group. A Family Advisory Council that accurately represents the broad spectrum of employees within and families served by Cincinnati Children's will be the ongoing goal.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Family Advisors are selected to represent the many different types of patient families who access Cincinnati Children's hospital, including but not limited to those who utilize a vast array of hospital services, those who only access the hospital occasionally, foster parents, grandparents, adoptive parents, single parents, and those from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. They are expected to:
    • Attend each FAC meeting
    • Engage thoughtfully with the issues and material submitted for FAC review
    • Provide meaningful feedback from a family perspective in meetings and via email
  • Staff Advisors are selected to represent the vast number of people who work for Cincinnati Childrens, from direct care providers to researchers to administrative support staff. They are expected to:
    • Attend each FAC meeting
    • Engage thoughtfully with the issues and material submitted for FAC review
    • Provide meaningful feedback from a staff perspective where appropriate, and from their perspective as consumers of health care, in both meetings and via email
    • Advocate for and report on progress towards incorporating family perspectives within their home department
  • Parent Coordinators are selected from families who access Cincinnati Children's services. They are to:
    • Facilitate FAC meetings
    • Review and prepare FAC meeting agendas
    • Report the results of FAC input on staff projects annually
    • Recruit, train, and place families with hospital staff who need family input on projects
    • Coordinate with and support the development and sustenance of in-house family advisory boards
    • Represent families on selected hospital committees, including but not limited to the Board of Trustees, the Patient Care Committee of the Board, and the Patient Care Governance Council
    • Advocate for families and promote the full partnership of families and staff both within Cincinnati Children's and with outside organizations
  • Staff Liaison – the staff liaison is to:
    • Attend each FAC meeting
    • Provide a monthly report to the FAC of progress on ongoing projects and any hospital changes of interest to families
    • Support the parent coordinators and Family Advisory Council by helping them connect with appropriate hospital staff and key decision makers for pertinent issues
    • Support the FAC and parent coordinators as they develop and pursue their strategic plan
    • Support the parent coordinators in advocating for families and the full partnership of families with staff both within Cincinnati Children's and with outside organizations
    • Facilitate reimbursement and annual badging for family advisors.
    • Help the FAC achieve its goals by removing or minimizing potential barriers.
  • Cabinet Liaison – selected by the members of the Cincinnati Children's cabinet on a rotating basis. The cabinet liaison is to:
    • Attend each FAC meeting or designate a representative to do so
    • Provide a monthly report to the FAC to facilitate communication between the FAC and senior management
    • Support the parent coordinators in advocating for families and the full partnership of families with staff both within Cincinnati Children's and with outside organizations
  • Board Liaison – selected by the chairman of the board of Cincinnati Children's. The Board Liaison is to:
    • Attend each FAC meeting
    • Provide a monthly report to the FAC facilitating communication between the Board and the FAC
    • Report from the FAC to the Board where appropriate
  • Alternate – chosen from a short list of former FAC advisors to serve as a family advisor in the event that a sitting member of the FAC cannot attend or must step down for any reason. An alternate will finish the term begun by the exiting member and must be chosen to maintain the 1/3 to 2/3 ratio of staff to families whenever possible.

Badges

All selected family applicants will be issued a special Family Advisor badge to identify them throughout the hospital. Family advisors should wear their badges whenever they represent the Family Advisory Council within Cincinnati Children's, whether in a committee meeting or at a hospital-sponsored event. Badges do not offer additional security access to the medical center and should not be worn during clinic visits, inpatient stays, etc. Staff advisors and standing members should wear their hospital badges.

Confidentiality

Family Advisory Council members must not discuss any personal or confidential information revealed during a council meeting outside their role as family advisors. What happens in a meeting should stay in the meeting! Council members must adhere to all applicable HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) standards and guidelines. Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Staff members must not mention patients or families by name or provide information that could identify a specific patient or family
  • Family members must not mention other patients or families by name or provide identifying information.
  • Family members should avoid mentioning specific staff members by name.

If an advisor violates these guidelines, a parent coordinator will remind them of the guidelines. If an advisor continues to break the HIPAA guidelines, they must repeat the HIPAA training. If they continue to fail to comply, the parent coordinators and executive committee will discuss their membership status.

Family Advisory Council Member Term

All Family Advisory Council members will serve approximately a two-year term. Approximately half of the Family Advisory Council will rotate annually. Advisors whose status changes during their term (e.g. family advisor becomes employed by Cincinnati Children's, staff advisor changes departments) must provide the parent coordinators with updated information in a timely manner. Parent Coordinators and council members may agree to change an advisor's assignment before their term is complete if something comes along that fits the advisor's unique gifts better.

Family Advisory Council Meetings

Council meetings are held monthly. In an effort to best accommodate everyone's schedules, these meetings rotate between daytime and evening every other month. Meetings on Mondays are held during the day, while meetings on Thursdays are held in the evening.

Each meeting is two (2) hours in length, with a meal (either lunch or dinner) served 30 minutes before the meeting's start time. The FAC does not meet during the months of July and August.

While guests are welcome to observe, seating is very limited. Please contact the parent coordinators at least two (2) weeks prior to a meeting to inquire about space availability. The meeting schedule will be posted on the Cincinnati Children's web site.

Agenda

Meeting agendas are set by the parent coordinators and distributed to the membership at each council meeting. Anyone may request time on the council agenda by contacting the parent coordinators. The parent coordinators evaluate and prioritize each request by discussing with prospective presenters their item's appropriateness and/or clarifying the subject matter. Parent coordinators may also suggest alternative means of involving the FAC, including, but not limited to, email review/discussion, focus group, and task force. All recipients of FAC assistance are asked to respond to a follow-up survey approximately 6 months after the meeting.

Meeting Minutes

The parent coordinators maintain minutes and all other pertinent council records. These are available by request.

Attendance

Attendance is very important. If a member is absent, their perspective is lost. Therefore, parent coordinators stay in close contact with all council members regarding their interest and commitment to the FAC. Spotty attendance or lack of meaningful participation during meetings may result in the parent coordinators reconsidering and reassigning an advisor to a committee or team more appropriate to their schedule.

Member Reimbursement

All family advisors may receive reimbursement for travel and childcare. Reimbursement forms are available from the parent coordinators or on the web site and should be handed in to the coordinators at the end of each council meeting. Transportation fees are standard, determined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Childcare expenses will be reimbursed at a rate not to exceed $15 per hour. Cincinnati Childrens' Department of Accounting will issue a check for reimbursed services and mail them to the member's home.

Inclement Weather

Council meetings will be cancelled if Hamilton County declares a snow emergency of Level 2 or higher. Should a meeting be cancelled for any reason, the parent coordinators will make every effort to contact all Family Advisory Council members in a timely manner.

Updated July 2009