The Institute for Human Caring was founded in 2014 by renowned palliative
care physician, Dr. Ira Byock to advance goal-aligned whole person care
across the Providence health system. Our mission is to provide more personalized
care, which we believe not only improves patient outcomes but also reduces
unnecessary and costly treatments. Guided by Providence's core values
of Compassion, Dignity, Justice, Excellence, and Integrity, as well as
our Promise to answer each patient's call to "know me, care for
me, ease my way," the Institute focuses on five components to humanize
healthcare and support patients as well as their families and caregivers
living with serious illness. This approach goes beyond temporary improvements
and aims for lasting transformation.
Setting Quality Standards
We build on the best medical practices from top health organizations and
national quality groups to set high-quality care standards. We believe
all patients facing a serious illness or complex medical decision should
have a truly personalized plans of care which guides diagnostics and treatments
so that they are consistent with a patient’s stated individual goals.
In order to accomplish this, we believe each patient should have: the
option to appoint a trusted decision maker who can speak for them should
they be unable to speak for themselves; an in-depth conversation about
what matters most to them given any new or evolving illness; routine assessments
of their wellbeing; and access to specialty palliative care.
Measuring and Monitoring
Our data scientists measure how hospitals and clinicians perform against
our quality standards. We present this information in secure, cloud-based
dashboards using simple graphics so each level in the organization can
see how well it is performing. It also allows us to deploy our program
development resources – learning from those exceptional centers
and helping those who have room for growth by spreading best known ways.
Optimizing the Electronic Health Record
Electronic health records are often cumbersome and overly complicated,
but they do not need to be this way. Our informatics team has been able
to introduce new features to our EHR that allow clinicians to easily document
important discussions with patients/families and quickly locate other
conversations by others. This “one-stop shop” reduces the
number of clicks needed to discover a patient’s trusted decision
maker, advance directive documentation, CPR status, POLST forms, and,
most importantly, descriptions of any goals of care conversation had by
a clinician across the health system.
Educating Clinicians
At the Institute, we understand the importance of effective communication
between clinicians and seriously ill patients. That's why we developed
a course called "Advanced Communication Training" to help clinicians
improve these conversations. This course equips clinicians with the necessary
communication skills to offer more personalized plans of care for their
seriously ill patients. To date, we have trained nearly 5,000 clinicians
and counting. Additionally, we are currently developing a new course that
utilizes generative AI as simulated patients to further enhance clinicians'
communication skills.
Optimizing Palliative Care
We have created a national model for delivering the best palliative care,
regardless of a patient's location. We collaborate with our Palliative
Care colleagues throughout the system to share best practices and build
a supportive community. Furthermore, we assist hospitals in making a compelling
business case for expanding the reach of palliative services to those
most in need.
At the Institute for Human Caring, we continue to drive meaningful change
in healthcare by prioritizing the personalized, compassionate care that
every patient deserves. Together, we can transform the healthcare experience
for those living with serious illness.