This is the first of two detailed experiences of patient advisers at The Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC), written to coincide with the national Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month. Peter Labita is a cancer survivor who told his story to OSUMC hospital staff, who then recruited him to spearhead a new patient advisory council. He describes how it began.

I was asked to become an adviser after I gave a grand rounds to doctors and interns of the head and neck cancer unit. A program manager at the hospital wanted to talk to me about this program that was starting up and wondered if I would be interested. I said yes, and the rest is history…

I thought that the advisory council would be something similar to the grand rounds, where I would be telling my story along with other cancer survivors to hospital staff. However, it was something a little different. It is more about being an adviser to staff on issues related to changes they wanted to make to improve the patient experience.

Being an adviser is being an advocate for other patients, ensuring that the committee would be able to help usher in changes that would benefit the patient stay. I enjoy meeting other staff in the hospital and finding out how hospitals work, as well as learning some of the frustrations that happen as a result of working in such a large environment.

As other institutions think about creating advisory boards, they must understand that the patients they select for these boards need to know how hospitals work and what staff is dealing with on a day-to-day basis so that the adviser can give some positive feedback when asked about what changes need to be made for the patient experience.

Being an adviser is important because it is the key way that staff hear positive and negative feedback about a patient’s stay and how the patient was treated while in the hospital. The adviser is also an important reminder that the patient should be treated as a whole person, not just a disease. The disease is only a small part of the whole picture when a person gets cancer or any other life-threatening illness. Advisers reinforce and remind staff of the human side of caregiving.

I feel that being an adviser is an important function in the day-to-day work of a hospital. We can be the eyes and ears of what can and should be changed, as well as give a better perspective of how staff should be interacting with patients in finding out the patients’ needs.

Visit the OSUMC cancer volunteer site for more information on the OSUMC Patient and Family Experience Advisory Program.
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Peter Labita
Patient/Family Experience Advisor
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center