Terrell Smith. Photo by Dana Johnson
Grant from trust to promote family-centered care at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital has received a $25,000 grant from the Baptist Healing Hospital Trust to develop a residency training course in family-centered care.
“I was thrilled when I heard we got the grant,” Terrell Smith, administrative director of Liaison Services at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, said. “Our work to develop a culture of family-centered care is very much within the ‘healing hospital’ mission of the Baptist Trust.”
Smith trains Vanderbilt Children’s staff members to recognize the importance of family involvement in every aspect of the care of children. She said one of the most important facets of family-centered care is the relationship between physicians and family members of patients. The curriculum for residents would provide a plan for strengthening that relationship.
“We will begin to develop a curriculum for residents, to infuse the concept of family-centered care,” Smith said. “The Center for Patient Advocacy, residents, staff and families will participate in developing the curriculum.”
To many, it might sound surprising that Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital would be awarded a grant from the Baptist Healing Hospital trust; that is, until you learn more about what the trust is. The Baptist Healing Trust was created from the sale of Baptist to Ascension Health in St. Louis, which also owns Saint Thomas Hospital.
The trust is separate from Baptist or Saint Thomas or any other hospital. The mission statement of the Baptist Healing Hospital Trust says it offers innovative programming to support the development of healing health care in America.
A healing hospital is defined as a program that focuses on strategies to advance the delivery of loving care in a hospital or other non-profit setting. The trust provides grants to caring non-profits to build on such programs.
“But we didn’t want to be an organization that just cuts checks,” said former Baptist Hospital CEO Erie Chapman, who is the president of the trust. “We wanted to be involved in seeking out programs, or receiving grant requests from hospitals that want to grow a culture of loving patient care. We plan to stay involved with these programs to help guide them. Vanderbilt Children’s proposal for residency training in family-centered care is right on target.”
The award is given in the amount of $25,000 for one year, to support the development and implementation of a residency training program on family-centered care.
Smith says plans are underway now to develop the family-centered care curriculum for next year’s residents.
For more information on the Baptist Healing Hospital trust, visit their Web site at www.healing hospital.org.