Tampa General Hospital Earns National Recognition for Excellence and Innovation in Patient Experience from the ICD Healthcare Network

The ICD Healthcare Network acknowledged TGH during its inaugural PFAC-tor Awards.

Tampa, FL (Oct. 23, 2023) – Tampa General Hospital (TGH) announced today it has been recognized by the ICD Healthcare Network, a leading platform for best practices in the health care industry, with a PFAC-tor Award for excellence and innovation in patient experience.

The inaugural awards celebrate leadership, creativity and innovation factors in the implementation of patient and family advisory councils (PFAC) with the same mission. Recipients were announced during the seventh annual Patient Experience Symposium in Boston.

“Patient experience in health care is internationally recognized as an important indicator of the quality of medical care,” said Lara Klick, vice president and chief patient experience officer at Tampa General Hospital. “At Tampa General, we are committed to the highest standards of comprehensive and compassionate care and are honored to receive this recognition of our Patient and Family Advisory Council and the extraordinary work they do to elevate patient care.” 

Tampa General was honored by the ICD Healthcare Network for two of its many ongoing projects:

• The PFAC-Nurse Leader and Purposeful Hourly Rounding training sessions allow advisors to serve as patient and family actors in a simulated hospital room environment and provide a real patient perspective to daily clinical rounding.
• The PFAC Story Corps Committee is comprised of advisors who capture and edit real patient experience stories which help narrate the patient voice for the organization.

The PFAC provides Tampa General departments and team members with recognition for utilization of PFAC and the patient voice. Many departments have education materials with the “PFAC-approved” logo, most of the academic health system’s nurses have received PFAC training certificates for completing patient-centric education and countless leaders and team members wear PFAC badge pins as indicators they support the patient voice in their work at Tampa General.

The TGH Patient and Family Advisory Council consists of a diverse group of former patients and/or family members of patients who meet regularly to advise the academic health system on patient perspectives in health care. This feedback ranges from ways to enhance patient education and safety to ideas about facility design and patient accessibility.

“From teaching nurses how to better communicate with one another, as well as patients and their family members, to utilizing patient narratives in innovative ways to impact patients, family members and team members, our council ultimately helps to promote an exceptional patient experience at Tampa General Hospital,” said Kristen Kellar, MPH, patient and family engagement manager. “This work has been vital to our mission to become the safest and most innovative academic health system in the country, while enabling us to support patients and their loved ones while in the hospital.”

The Patient Experience team at Tampa General is dedicated to informing, educating and guiding hospital clinicians and support teams on best practices and methods to enhance compassionate communication with patients and their families, with a focus on patient-centered care.