Patient-centered care
Encyclopedia
Patient-centered care presumes active involvement of patients and their families in the design of new care models and in decision-making about individual options for treatment. Given that non-consumer stakeholders often don't know what matters most to patients regarding their ability to get and stay well, care that is truly patient-centered cannot be achieved without active patient engagement at every level of care design and implementation.

There are 4 key attributes of patient-centered care :
  • "Whole-person" care
  • Coordination and communication
  • Patient support and empowerment
  • Ready access


Patient-centered care is about much more than simply educating patients about a diagnosis, potential treatment, or healthy behavior. It does not mean giving patients whatever they want; rather, patients want guidance from their care providers, but they expect that guidance to be provided in the context of full and unbiased information about options, benefits, and risks. “Patient-centered” means considering patients’ cultural traditions, personal preferences and values, family situations, social circumstances and lifestyles, as used by the Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...

 and Institute for Healthcare Improvement, A 2001 Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...

report identified a focus on patient-centered care as one of six interrelated factors constituting high-quality health care.

Don Berwick, formerly of IHI, defined patient-centered care as:
The experience (to the extent the informed, individual patient desires it) of transparency, individualization,
recognition, respect, dignity, and choice in all matters, without exception, related to one’s person, circumstances,
and relationships in health care.

Patient-centered care is also about empowering patients by giving the right weight to their opinions about the health-care system
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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