A Patient’s Journey at Mount Sinai Queens Shows Benefits of Patient and Family Partnership

The Office of Patient Experience made the Patient-Family Partnership Program a focus of the team’s efforts in 2021. This focus led to an exponential growth in the use of patient stories in training and retreats, as well as partnerships in workgroups for initiatives such as the Emergency Department redesign. Over the past year, patient partnerships have played a crucial role in education efforts, team building, and more.

“It is through the experiences of our patients that we learn what we’re doing well and what can be done better; where we can grow as a health system and become more efficient and compassionate health care providers,” says Nicole Porto, Patient-Family Partnership Program lead and Associate Director of Patient Experience, Mount Sinai Downtown.
Mount Sinai Queens, like many of the Health System’s hospitals, has benefitted from patient feedback in understanding which clinical and nonclinical behaviors matter most to patients. Such stories also expand on the idea that everyone in the health care profession, regardless of position or title, plays a role in the patient experience.

The journey of Frances Diaz and her daughter Carrie at Mount Sinai Queens is an example of how much each person impacts the patient experience.

Frances Diaz, 58, has always been a strong and independent woman. As a loving mother of eight and a devoted grandmother of four, Ms. Diaz enjoys cooking, knitting, listening to music, and shopping but most importantly, spending quality time with her family.
In late March 2021, Ms. Diaz tested positive for COVID-19. Only a few short days later, she began to feel agonizing pain in her right arm. Ms. Diaz immediately alerted her family, who quickly called an ambulance that brought her to the Emergency Department of Mount Sinai Queens. This began her 79-day journey at the hospital.

Over those 79 days, Ms. Diaz faced an uphill battle with medical conditions including COVID-19, a stroke, a large pulmonary embolism, and renal failure. She endured two intubations, vascular surgery, and eventually, a below-knee amputation.

Ms. Diaz’s daughter Carrie has this to say about her experience at Mount Sinai Queens:
“From the security officers that greet you at the front door to the doctors, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, housekeepers, and everyone on the care team—everyone at MSQ has been so kind, understanding and patient from the day we arrived. We could not have asked for a better experience.”

“I remember on our first night in the Emergency Department. I was outside at 4 am, on the edge, fearing the worst. A physician was an angel and took me in from outside and calmed my life down.”

Carrie is grateful to many staff members for their care and compassion: “To the staff on 2 East that gave me that little bit of extra time with my mother when I really needed it, it meant the world to us. To nurse Grace and PA Joe Crimi, thank you for going beyond to show us so much kindness and compassion. To social worker Helen Alulema, thank you for being so kind and always being there by call or text.”

Ms. Alulema says it took an exceptional team effort to get Ms. Diaz to where she is today. “We found success through working extremely well together as an interdisciplinary team,” she says. “All members of the care team were exceptionally collaborative, and we communicated very well with each other. This interdisciplinary communication allowed us to effectively provide information to Ms. Diaz and her family.”

Frances Diaz was discharged from Mount Sinai Queens in June 2021, then headed to a rehabilitation facility to continue her healing. As of March 2022, Ms. Diaz was back at home with her family and enjoying life. She shared gratitude and praise for all of those at Mount Sinai Queens who helped her recover. Meanwhile, Mount Sinai Queens is continuing to partner with their patients, with a strong focus on teamwork.