Sara Guastello
Senior Vice President, Division of Person-Centered Care Standards
Planetree International
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If It Were Your Family, What Would You Want? A Balanced and Informed Approach to Reinstating Family Presence
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Partnerships with Patients, Families, Staff, and the Community
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Sara joined Planetree International in 2004, inspired by the mission to humanize healthcare through compassionate interactions and partnership. In her role leading Planetree’s Division of Person-Centered Care Standards, Sara consolidates the most promising person-centered care practices from around the world with emerging scientific evidence and peoples’ lived experiences into defined and measurable performance standards. She leads the Person-Centered Care Certification Program®, recognized as the international standard for organizational excellence in Person-Centered care. Drawing on the same principles behind the Certification Program, Sara has spearheaded the development of a number of associated standards-based programs, including the Fellows in Person-Centered Care Program to recognize individual achievement, the Distinction Program for Leadership and Innovation, and a set of standards to guide implementation of Person-Centered care in higher education settings.
In 2020, as part of a global Pop-Up Coalition to Preserve Family Presence, she co-authored the Guidelines for Preserving Family Presence in Challenging Times, which was subsequently endorsed by more than 35 organizations around the world. Sara is co-author of the 2017 National Academy of Medicine discussion paper Harnessing Evidence and Experience to Change Culture: Guiding Framework for Patient and Family Engaged Care and the 2020 follow-up paper Patient and Family Engaged Care: An Essential Element of Health Equity. She also co-edited The Putting Patients First Field Guide: Global Lessons in Designing and Implementing Patient-Centered Care. In 2019, she served as a subject matter expert on Joint Commission International’s Standards Advisory Panel to provide guidance into introducing patient-centered care standards to the accreditation process, and in 2020, was named to the National Quality Partners Action Team to Co-Design Patient-Centered Health Systems.
Her work continues to be inspired by the stories shared by patient, resident and family advocates, as well as by the depth of caring, commitment and resourcefulness of caregivers around the world who collectively are re-defining expectations for quality in healthcare to not only meet medical needs, but human needs as well.
Favorite or Relevant Quote:
“To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you, that's what I think a meaningful life is. One lives not just for oneself but for one's community.” ¬– Ruth Bader Ginsberg
