Doha: Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Enaya Specialized Care Center has become the first facility in Qatar to achieve certification for excellence in person-centered care by Planetree International.
While Enaya is the first facility at HMC to achieve this award, the Communicable Disease Center, the Ambulatory Care Center, Home Health Care Service, and the Private Nursing Service are currently undergoing certification.
The milestone was marked recently by a small socially-distanced in-person event that included HMC leaders and staff, representatives from Planetree, and patients and their families, many of whom joined virtually.
The Enaya Specialized Care Center is a support facility that works with Hamad General Hospital and Rumailah Hospital and provides 24-hour care to long-term patients who are in a stable condition. The Center features 156 patient beds and is the only specialized facility of its kind in Qatar. The Enaya team underwent a rigorous evaluation by the Planetree team earlier this year to achieve the certification.
Planetree is a not-for-profit organization that partners with healthcare organizations around the world to transform how patient care is delivered. Deputy Chief of Quality, Center for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement and Director for the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute, Nasser Al Naimi said person-centered healthcare prioritizes the active participation of patients, residents, and their families throughout the healthcare process with an emphasis on partnership, compassion, transparency, inclusion, and quality.
“Planetree’s independent certification committee evaluated the Enaya Specialized Care Center against 26 specific criteria and determined it has met the standards to be deemed silver certified for excellence in person-centered care. The Planetree certification represents the highest level of achievement in person-centered care based on evidence and standards,” said Al Naimi.
Qatar’s National Health Strategy lead for Healthy Ageing and Medical Director of Rumailah Hospital and Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad said the criteria used by Planetree to assess Enaya addressed components of a person-centered healthcare experience, including the quality of patient-provider interactions, access to information, family involvement and the physical environment of care.
An integral part of the move towards person-centered care and the certification process was the establishment of a Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at Enaya. This Council met monthly for more than 18 months and advised on a variety of issues.
“The PFAC at Enaya was trailblazing in many ways. Working collaboratively with the care team, they designed and implemented projects with the Enaya team – including patient room whiteboards and a care partner program and worked to jointly set goals in the strategic plan for Enaya,” said Dr. Al Hamad.
