Issues of Parental Illness and Its Impact on Children, Youth and Families
When a parent is diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness, children are reluctant to verbalize their fears and concerns to those closest to them because they don't want to add to their family's burdens. Families may have limited financial resources, inadequate respite support, limited communication with the education and health care system, and competing work and family commitments. Often schools, recreation programs, and other sources of community support are not aware of the problems nor prepared to help the child and family. This section explores how we can build and sustain a system of care to support families, children, and youth when a parent has a serious, chronic, or life-threatening illness.
Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Geriatric Care
While many people lead healthy lives into their eighties and beyond, most become more fragile and less independent as they grow older. The traditional health care model focuses on the immediate needs of the older person as a patient with one or more diseases, but care in this model is fragmented and narrowly focused and often does not meet the needs of the patient or family. The older person's support system of family, friends, and other community members may not be fully utilized. The patient- and family-centered care approach seeks to address the broad spectrum of concerns by creating collaborative
Medical Education—Creating Patient and Family Faculty Programs
Patient and family faculty programs are a major means through which patient- and family-centered professional education can become a reality. In these programs, patients and families work side by side with health professionals in the education of medical students, nursing students, and other trainees, and in inservice training for professional health care providers as well.
Patient and Family Resource Centers
Hospitals and clinics of all sizes are recognizing the value of patient and family resource centers in meeting consumer information and support needs. A number of trends, prominently the commitment to patient- and family-centered care, public interest in health issues, and competition between institutions are fostering an increased interest in developing patient and family resource centers in health care settings.