"VIVE" The Video on Interviewing Vulnerable Elders," funded by Picker Institute and developed and produced by Dr. Deb Saliba at the UCLA/Jewish Home Borun Center in Los Angeles, is a comprehensive guide to helping LTC facility staff members build the confidence and skills they need to interview residents for the new Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0.

Picker Institute has launched a galvanizing  new initiative, Always Events™, aimed at significantly elevating the standard for the optimal patient experience in hospitals and medical practices throughout the United States. The new standard establishes an expectation that certain aspects of the patient and family experience, referred to as Always Events™, should always occur when patients and families interact with healthcare professionals and the delivery system. The Always Events™ Challenge Grant Program is designed to support the development and implementation of innovative projects that demonstrate how the Always Events™ concept can be implemented in practice. Click here for more details, program deadlines and a link to download the Always  Events™ RFP.

In 2009, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation joined Picker Institute in the Challenge Grants program that provides annual grants for the research and development of innovative projects to integrate successful patient-centered care initiatives and best practices into the education of our country's practicing physicians.  

In addition, The Picker Institute/Gold Foundation/ACGME Challenge Grant Program cycle will be announced in January 2011.  The mission of this program is to foster a broader understanding of the concerns of patients and other healthcare consumers, and of the theoretical and practical implications of a patient-centered care approach. This month's spotlight is is on "Communication in Family Meetings: Developing and Assessing a Curriculum for Residents," Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center. Click here to learn more about the program.

Two years ago, in keeping with the late Harvey Picker's wishes, Picker Institute created a long-term care grants program. Part of that program is the Picker Award for Excellence^® in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in a Long-Term Care setting, and the first winner of that award was Dr. Bill Thomas, the internationally known advocate for making elderhood the third stage of the life cycle, after childhood and adulthood, instead of what he has called "the time of failure."

"We are all on a journey. Humans have three built-in faculties designed to guide our journey and foster values: the intellect, whose object is truth; the will, whose object is goodness and the imagination, whose object is beauty. Finding truth, beauty and goodness is a never-ending pilgrimage."  -- Dr. David Leach, "A Conversation"

One of the ways Picker Institute supports patient-centered care is by recognizing people in healthcare who have made significant contributions to achieving patient-centered care worldwide. Conversations with Leaders in the Field of Patient-Centered Care is a regular feature that highlights people who have promoted patient-centered care in their work or through their organization. Click here to continue the Conversation with Dr. David Leach.