MedWest forming Patient Advisory Council to support Emergency Department services

11/22/2011

CLYDE, N.C. –MedWest Health System is seeking patients treated recently in its Emergency Departments to serve as part of a new Patient Advisory Council. 

Individuals who have been patients during the past 90 days in the Emergency Departments of MedWest-Haywood, MedWest-Harris or MedWest-Swain are invited to volunteer for the Council, which is designed to address ways to continue to improve emergency services. Former patients will join healthcare providers and MedWest staff on the Council. 

“We want to get folks to come share their experiences. We’re looking at it from a service standpoint and want to continue to connect with the community,” said Roger Coward, assistant vice president of emergency services for the MedWest Health System and the coordinator for the Patient Advisory Council. 

According to Coward, the Council is expected to be formed in December and will meet for the first time in January. The group will continue to meet monthly for between six and 12 months. 
Eligible Council members must be at least 18 years old and have been treated at a MedWest emergency department in the last three months. Parents of minors treated by MedWest during this timeframe are eligible as well. 

Applications are available at www.medwesthealth.org and at the main lobby front desks of MedWest-Haywood in Clyde, MedWest-Harris in Sylva and MedWest-Swain in Bryson City.  

The new Patient Advisory Council is part of MedWest’s ongoing work to provide high-quality service, care and patient safety, efforts that include soliciting feedback through patient satisfaction surveys. One such recent survey indicated that more than half of all MedWest-Haywood Emergency Department patients rated their experience as “excellent,” the highest rating option in the survey. 

In the future, MedWest will be looking at forming Patient Advisory Councils to continue to improve other medical departments in the health system. 
For more about the Patient Advisory Council, contact Coward at (828) 452-8110 or at roger.coward@medwesthealth.org.