“Do you currently provide care or help to care for an ill, disabled, or injured family member or friend?”
This question will soon appear on large, informational screens throughout Vanderbilt University Medical Center, along with a link to quickly access valuable resources to assist those who support the wellbeing of a family member, friend or neighbor.
According to statistics from the National Institutes of Health, 53 million people in the United States are unpaid caregivers — meaning they’re balancing their own lives while helping someone else with housekeeping, meals, medications, appointments, personal care and many other tasks — often at the detriment of their own health and wellbeing.
“While often rewarding, caregiving is physically, emotionally, socially and financially challenging,” said Senior Director of Patient and Family Engagement Terrell Smith, MSN, RN. “Caregivers are at risk for their own medical and mental health problems, and 23% say caregiving has made their own health worse.
“Approximately half of caregivers report clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety, and many experience post-traumatic stress disorder or related symptoms … It’s become clear that being a caregiver is a social driver of health — a nonmedical condition that influences health outcomes.”
People sitting in clinic waiting rooms or the next person in the grocery checkout line could be juggling this challenging and often unseen role. Their own medical providers might not realize they are caring for another, despite the significant impact it can have on their health.
Members of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s patient and family advisory councils — largely made up of individuals who are themselves caregivers — decided last year that “caring for the caregiver” would be the focus of a 15-member workgroup tasked with developing a plan to better assist caregivers.
Thanks to their efforts, important resources for caregivers are now available on the Vanderbilt Health website. The easily navigated site includes helpful articles about facets of caregiving such as how to help older adults with anxiety and ways to best support a loved one with diabetes. The site also includes mental health resources, a searchable health library and links to assist in locating social services, financial aid and community resources.
The group also plans an educational effort to help the Medical Center’s clinical staff better see and support those who are caring for others. They hope to add a question about whether a person is providing care for another to pre-visit questionnaires so ambulatory clinic medical teams are aware of and can address this social driver of health.
“Now that we have the resource site created, we will begin to raise provider awareness by presenting to multiple groups,” Smith said.
Members of VUMC’s patient and family advisory councils and advisory groups, as well as Medical Center leadership, gathered this week for their annual summit to review past work, celebrate successes and plan ahead for initiatives to improve the patient and family engagement at the Medical Center.
C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, VUMC’s Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer, welcomed the room full of patient and family advisors. He shared news about the Medical Center’s growth, driven by the needs of a rapidly growing population in Middle Tennessee, as well as recent accolades and a look ahead at upcoming development to build capacity.
Pinson made a special point of letting the advisory group members know their input has had an indelible mark on both the past and the future of VUMC. He complimented the advisory councils on their hard work and collaboration with medical teams and administration to improve the services, programs, policies and facilities of the Medical Center.
“I hope that you can see how your participation and your collaboration has really made a difference,” Smith said. “You’re part of setting the tone and setting the culture of how we take care of our patients.”
The advisory councils were asked to lend their efforts to two new collaborative projects moving forward in 2024. One effort, presented by Charlotte Brown, MD, associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Hospital Medicine, is an educational initiative for first year medical students, the Vanderbilt Interpersonal Health Education Collaborative (VIPHEC).
The initiative will involve every Vanderbilt University School of Medicine first-year medical student, as well as student nurses, pharmacists and social workers. The students would gain experience in working collaboratively and learning how to recognize and address social determinants of health. A major assignment is conducting a home visit with a patient or family.
Brown asked the group for their advice on how to shape this assignment, questions to ask, and help in identifying patients or families for students to interview.
The second initiative was presented by Laurie Novak, PhD, MHSA, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, and AI Discovery and Vigilance to Accelerate Innovation and Clinical Excellence Center leader. Novak asked the group for their input as decisions are made at the Medical Center about the development and implementation of artificial intelligence in medicine.
A full report of the accomplishments of the advisory councils and workgroups can be accessed by searching Vanderbilt Health for Vanderbilt Patient and Family Advisory Councils, then scrolling to the Advisory Council Annual Reports section. If you or your department has an initiative that could benefit from the voice of the patient, please contact Terrell.Smith@vumc.org.
