Health & Medicine as Social Sciences: Patient Care
What is Patient-Centered Care?
Patient-Centered Care is a method of providing Healthcare that emphasizes active collaboration, shared decision-making, and looking at the patient as a whole individual as opposed to just the physical reason for their seeking of medical attention. - Source 1 & 2
- What is Patient-Centered Care?This article from the New England Journal of Medicine highlights the elements and benefits of Patient-Centered Care in addition to providing examples and exploring the cultural shifts that come with the shift to Patient-Centered Care.
Teaching Patient Care
Many medical schools have a general course that focuses on 'How to be a Doctor' or a 'Doctoring' course that focuses on the skills a student will use when interacting with patients. This content and the method of its delivery is crucial to shaping the future of patient care. Check out some of the schools below to see how they teach students about patient care.
In order to improve patient care in the future, the most important thing to invest in now are the students training to become Healthcare professionals. Purposefully teaching students how to care for their patients has the opportunity to positively impact the healthcare system and the patients within for years to come.
Implementing Patient-centered Care
As a result of shifting delivery of care to a patient-centered method, the system it operates within has to change as well. The implementation of Patient-Centered Care (PCC) to the Healthcare system is complex, and many components have to be considered in order to see success. In a recent study by Bakhour et al. they explore the process of implementation and highlight seven domains that impact implementation.
1) Leadership
2) Patient and family engagement
3) Staff engagement
4) Focus on PCC innovations
5) Alignment of staff roles and priorities
6) Organizational structures and processes
7) Environment of care
Without the interaction of all seven components, there will be parts of the system that are excluded from implementation which could result in unsuccessful implementation overall despite the efforts of any individual. It is a task that must be worked on by many, not by few.
Information Paraphrased from Source 3
- Last Updated: Aug 30, 2024 10:34 AM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/healthandmedicine