Delivering Patient Centered Care

Patient-centered care is a model of care that respects the patient’s experience, values, needs and preferences in the planning, coordination and delivery of care. A central component of this model is a therapeutic relationship between the patient and the team of healthcare professionals. The implementation of a patient-centered care model has been shown to contribute to improved outcomes for patients, better use of resources, decreased costs and increased satisfaction with care. This article provides an overview of the barriers to providing patient-centered care and identifies strategies that can be implemented to overcome them.

What you will learn from this module:

1. Learning what a patient’s life goals are, should be part of the communication process. It provides a context of where she is in her life’s journey as well as what is important to her, or was important before she learned she had stage 4 breast cancer.
2. Oftentimes, people don’t think about their life goals until they are faced with a situation that will likely shorten their life.
3. By helping her plan to fulfill her life goals in alternative ways, for you, there should no longer be a reason to say, “I am so sorry you won’t be here to witness…”
4. It may feel at first that you don’t want to get to know your patients at this level, but the only way to deliver patient centered care is to know them well.
5. By delivering patient centered care, you should anticipate improved clinical outcomes, improved quality of life and quality of care.