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Hospital and Health System

STORY OF THE WEEK

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Hospitals Improve Access, Care for Disabled

In collaboration with Boston's disability community and the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL), Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have begun a comprehensive and landmark effort to improve access and care for people with disabilities.

The initiative includes an ongoing assessment by the MGH, BWH and the BCIL of the degree to which the hospitals are addressing the needs of people with disabilities and what steps need to be taken to further improve care. These are likely to include:

Removing architectural barriers in hospitals, off hospital campus physicians' offices and health centers (including exam rooms, patient rooms, treatment rooms, waiting areas, gift shops and parking areas).
Purchasing additional medical equipment and devices that are accessible for people with disabilities (including wheelchair scales, power adjustable exam tables, power door openers and mammography).
Modifying hospital policies and procedures that address issues related to the care of people with disabilities.
Developing a training program for all staff including physicians, nurses and support staff who interact with patients and visitors.

Patients with disabilities felt they were not consistently getting the care and services they needed. Patients with disabilities cited a number of concerns including not being weighed because they use a wheelchair, but being worried because certain medicines are dosed by weight; being examined in a wheelchair instead of on an adjustable exam table and a lack of sensitivity to their disability by some caregivers.

The patients' statements were taken seriously by the hospitals, and during the past year, representatives from the hospitals, Partners HealthCare, BCIL and Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) met frequently to develop a comprehensive plan to address the problems. In the meantime, the hospitals continued implementing a number of previously planned patient improvements.

Both BWH and MGH have large disability awareness councils composed of representatives from a full range of hospital departments, including patient care and nursing, human resources, facilities, support services and senior management. The goal of the councils is to support the hospitals' efforts to be first-rate providers of choice for people with disabilities.

Some of the issues identified by the BCIL have been used by awareness councils to reassess their priorities. The hospital disability awareness councils understand that the definition of disabilities goes beyond mobility issues and patients who are deaf and blind, to include the elderly and other patients with partial hearing loss and/or other visual impairments, the frail and those with non-visible disabilities.

Source: Brigham and Women�s Hospital, June 26, 2009

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: This information is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information on the business of healthcare. It is distributed with the understanding that Healthcare Intelligence Network is not engaged in rendering legal advice. If legal advice is required, the services of a competent professional should be retained.