⚠This browser is out of date. ⚠
To ensure this website functions properly,
please upgrade your browser
or use a different one.

Patient and family advisorsHelp improve the patient experience

Working as partners, UW Health and patient and family advisors seek to transform health care delivery by providing a forum for the patient's and family's voices to be heard and understood.

Overview

Helping us improve

Patients and family members provide an important perspective on the care they receive at UW Health.

Patient and family advisors are patients, or family members of patients, who have received care from UW Health in the last two years. Advisors from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives give constructive feedback to help us continue to offer remarkable health care by improving on the patient and family experience.

Roles and responsibilities

What do patient and family advisors do?

Patient and family advisors serve an important role at UW Health. Through their membership, advisors become part of a virtual community, helping to shape the patient and family experience through online participation, and if interested, in involvement in councils, committees or focus groups.

When you become a patient and family advisor, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Share your ideas on how to improve the UW Health experience for others

  • Know you are making a difference

  • Gain valuable skills by collaborating with others as part of a team

  • Get an insider’s look into health care and improvement efforts

  • Offer design suggestions for new buildings

  • Serve on hiring committees for UW Health leadership positions

  • Provide feedback on patient education materials

Frequently asked questions

Together with health care providers, patient and family advisors help shape the patient experience at UW Health.

We are looking for diverse voices and all individuals who are willing to be open and honest with us about the experiences they have had at UW Health. While staying away from personal agendas, we benefit from your ideas, feedback and constructive participation for better ways to deliver care for all our patients and families.

No prior advisor experience needed. We will offer guidance and skill training to empower you in your participation.

You will choose the level of participation you are most comfortable with. Most participation can be completed from the comfort of your home virtually, including survey feedback. Additional participation, including being a member of a Patient and Family Advisory Council, would require more time commitment. Committees and focus group participation time will vary. We will work with you to find something that works for you.

Most Patient and Family Advisory Councils have a set day and time they meet each month and are managed by a UW Health staff co-chair. Committee meeting times vary. Meeting locations are different for every council or committee. Most meetings take place virtually, while some meetings are in-person at a UW Health facility and provide a virtual option. We know that your time is valuable and you may not always be able to attend. We just ask that you let your meeting facilitator know.

About the council

Patient and Family Advisory Council

Advisory councils are structured groups of patients, family members, staff and physicians that meet regularly to provide constructive feedback on a range of topics affecting the patient and family experience.

Most advisory councils meet monthly or quarterly, either virtually or a combination of in-person with a virtual option. We currently has active Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) dedicated to each of the following topics:

  • American Family Children's Hospital

  • Behavioral health

  • Community Advisory Council (CAC)

  • Cystic fibrosis (adult)

  • Cystic fibrosis (pediatric)

  • Heart, vascular and thoracic (HVT)

  • Northeast Family Medical Center

  • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

  • Oncology

  • Primary care

  • Transplant

We are in the process of developing additional councils to ensure we are gathering diverse patient feedback throughout our system.

UW Health committees, quality councils and workgroups

Patient and family advisors (PFAs) also partner with staff to represent the patient and family perspective on standing committees, quality councils, improvement projects, family design teams, executive search committees and short-term workgroups. These groups usually meet once per month for 60–90 minutes and are composed primarily of medical providers and staff who are working to set organizational priorities and improve processes and ways of delivering care.

How to get involved

Interested in becoming a patient and family advisor?

If you are interested and would like to learn more, please complete and submit the online PFA interest form.

Contact us

Please reach out with any questions about the UW Health Patient and Family Advisory Program:

In Wisconsin

Online: Interest form
Email: PFAPartnerships@uwhealth.org

Mail
UW Health PFA Program
Mail Code 1005
7974 UW Health Court
Middleton, WI 53562