Remaking American Medicine: Hand in Hand

The fourth and final episode of this series, entitled Hand in Hand, looked at the innovate approach to patient care at the Medical College of Georgia's Children Medical Center (CMC), a teaching hospital, in Augusta, Georgia. Opened in December 1998, patient families were involved in the design of the CMC from its inception.

The stories of three families with chronically ill children underscore the importance for patient care to adapt, a realization that the status quo approach is no longer acceptable. With chronically ill children in need of ongoing special care, these families have spent many days and nights in hospitals and, unfortunately, been victims of medical errors. Three-and-a-half year old Colby Brown has had more than 50 operations and procedures in his short life. The Browns lost their first son to a surgical error and when Colby was born, Bridget Brown nearly lost her life because of a medication overdose. Even in the filming of this episode, a gastric feeding procedure was ordered that would have put Colby's life at risk.

Before the CMC was built, Julie Moretz began to ask questions about the way things were done and how patient families were treated. She too had spent many hours in hospitals with her son who had endured 12 heart-related surgeries. Julie Moretz has worked for the past 14 years to make the Medical College of Georgia a nationally recognized teaching hospital and health care provider. Prior to the transformation that has taken place, the College was considered one of the worst performing teaching hospitals in the United States. Now, representatives of other health care systems are coming to Augusta to see what they are doing that works. Julie eventually became director of Family Services Development, which recruits patients and families to become advisors to the hospital administration.

Some of the changes that make the CMC different are larger patient rooms that include pull-out beds for family members to use, the abolition of visiting hours so that families can be there whenever they want and, what is considered most unconventional, allowing parents to accompany their children into the operating room prior to anesthetization. The innovation that made the CMC a success was adopted when the College decided to build a new Neuroscience Center. Again, family members were involved in the design of the space and the same approach to patient care and family involvement has been adopted.

While this series has chronicled the many failings and shortcomings of the American medical system, it has also, as its title indicates, focused on the many individuals and health care systems attempting to 'remake' American medicine. It is, however, unfortunate that it often takes chronic or disastrous situations to propel change.