Person-centred care has been a significant focus in healthcare for several decades and has been recognized as an essential aspect of high-quality healthcare systems.

While we’ve only recently started hearing and questioning what it entails, we have yet to delve fully into how treatment programs can be designed to cater to a person’s specific needs, how their overall medical needs can be managed, and what person-centred care is related to.

1. What is Person-Centred Care?

Person-centered care involves:

• Tailoring healthcare decisions and quality measurements to an individual’s specific health needs and desired outcomes
• A collaborative conversation between a patient and a clinician to agree on goals and actions for managing the patient’s health problems.
• Teaming up with patients to address their specific health goals and preferences rather than solely managing overall medical needs.

Person-centred care emphasizes qualities like: 

• Compassion
• Empathy
• Responsiveness to individual patient needs, involving joint agreement on goals and actions.

To answer the question of what person-centred care is in a more succinct form, the World Health Organization describes person-centred care as the empowerment of people to take control of their health and health care rather than remaining docile recipients of the care meted out to them

This system of care hinges on the idea that patient feedback about their experiences and their views can help improve the overall quality of person-centred care.

2. Early Stages and Modern Adaptation

Doctors were shifting toward a patient-centred approach to healthcare. You accepted what they said because the treatment was being provided free of cost or at subsidized costs.

However, doctors are now encouraged to engage in shared decision-making with patients, considering their preferences and opinions rather than assuming they always know better. 

In the olden days, patients would blindly receive the treatment doctors gave them without any questions asked. However, this is not what person-centred care is all about. Thankfully, that has changed in modern times. 

Person-centred care in nursing emphasizes patient involvement and individualized care, reflecting a growing emphasis on patient-centred approaches in healthcare. It also asserts the significance of constructively taking patient feedback (including complaints and bad experiences) to improve healthcare quality.

And in the true spirit of person-centred healthcare, you can now see that people do not shy away from complaining or challenging the system if they do not receive care matching their expectations regarding health and well-being outcomes. 

Patients are increasingly involved in shared decision-making and empowered to participate in their healthcare decisions in modern healthcare settings.

Additionally, individuals want a treatment that acknowledges their:

• Knowledge
• Values
• Social circumstances 
• And is transparent when they choose how to manage their health care.

3. Principles of Person-Centred Care

The Health Foundation defines certain principles of person-centred care. Every principle is formulated on the basis that healthcare providers should treat people with compassion, dignity, and respect. 

3.1. Compassion, Dignity, and Respect

The first and most important principle of patient-centred healthcare relies on the basic human values of dealing with people in a manner filled with: 

• Compassion
• Dignity
• Respect

Individuals are encouraged to do the following when they go for treatment: 

• Actively participate in their care
• Make informed decisions
• Collaborate with healthcare providers

Healthcare providers need to understand and respect the fact that these individuals have their own: 

• Needs
• Thoughts
• Opinions
• Feeling

This leads to:

• A person feeling more in control of their care
• Pushes them to feel more independent and 
• Produces overall improved outcomes 

All these are a key part of person-centred care.

3.2. Coordinated Care 

The staff providing support services, as well as the healthcare team, needs to cooperate with each other to make sure that all the care that is given to a patient aligns with the pre-formulated plan. It is imperative for all care to be aligned. 

It is a crucial aspect of patient-centred care because the lack of coordination produces a delay and a hindrance to the overall time taken for the complete treatment. 

That is why it is essential that all the agencies and teams which are involved in providing care to the patient must understand individual needs and preferences while initiating the caring process. 

In short, all care providers must stay in contact with each other and maintain clear care plans and medical records. 

Understanding individual needs and wants should be integrated with coordination to provide effective person-centred care.

3.3. Personalized Treatment Approach

When dealing with person-centred care, healthcare providers need to be understanding and empathetic. It is necessary to realize that what works for one individual may not necessarily work for another.

Personalization of services, centring around the individuals, lets them keep hold of their freedom by taking into consideration their individual needs and wants.

An exceedingly uniform approach could hurt the individual’s ability to manage their condition or recover.

3.4. Self-Management Support

In this principle, a person must be actively involved in the decision-making, guided by their care providers. 

So the service users can understand how to become responsible and make certain decisions independently. This is beneficial, not only for the service users but also for the service providers, since the clients become more independent and are in control of the services they ask for.

An excess of professional involvement could make them feel like things are completely out of their control and that all decisions are being made for them. To avoid this, an open communication strategy would work wonders.

Communication between the service users and providers should be open and honest, which would fulfill the aim of person-centred care.

4. Why is Person-Centered Care Important?

Person-centred care or ‘patient-centred care’ is essential today since an individual wants to be fully involved in their own healthcare decisions, be it their:

• Mental
• Social
• Or physical health care

It is important as it revolves around ensuring that individuals who use these care services are the focus of all decisions taken regarding their care.

However, according to the principles we see above, apart from the ethical principles, there are certain rational objectives for the adoption of person-centred care. Thus, primarily, it allows people to be actively involved and become the focal point of their care.

Studies have found that self-management support and shared decision-making can improve a variety of aspects, including:

• Patient health
• Treatment experience
• Quality of care

5. Benefits of Person-Centered Care

When we think about what is patient-centered care, and the various benefits it offers, the first and foremost benefit we see is an individual being heavily involved in their care. This can be a major push for a person to not ignore their health.

It gives an individual the right to ask questions, make comments, and even complain if the situation arises without worrying about any repercussions in their healthcare.

5.1. High Priority

The main aim of delivering person-centred care puts the focus on the individuals involved in the care process at the centre of it since healthcare is becoming more and more person-centric.

Personalized care has been shown to: 

• Improve health outcomes
• Join up care in local communities
• Reduce pressure on stretched NHS services
• Help the healthcare system to be more efficient 

The resources for person-centred care are NOT limited. There is an increased demand for personalised care since it would: 

• Help people receive the care they need
• Help individuals be more active in asking for the care they deserve and need
• Ease the pressure on health and social care providers

Since it has become a priority for the individuals receiving as well as providing treatment, it results in an overall improvement in the quality of healthcare services available.

5.2. Quality Improvement

Research studies have found that person-centred care can considerably affect the quality of healthcare. When looking at a person-centered care, we see it improves the experience and health of individuals as well as the overall rate of satisfaction.

Additionally, person-centred care helps people lead a healthier lifestyle, like: 

• Eating healthy
• Exercising
• And being overall mindful of their habits regarding their health

This will lead to a decreased need for healthcare services as the health of the people will improve due to timely care and support. 

5.3. Increased Life Expectancy

It has been observed that quality person-centred care usually improves life expectancy. This is because it helps people understand more about their conditions and how to get treated.

Reviews of research on this topic found that offering care in a more person-centred way usually improves outcomes. Some of the most common ways that have been researched to improve person-centred care include: 

• Helping people learn more about their conditions
• Prompting people to be more engaged in health consultations 
• Training the health professionals

This level of involvement goes a long way in reassuring patients and leads to an increased life expectancy. It is especially true in the case of older people because:

• They’re made aware of what needs to be done or avoided
• They are better equipped to manage any health conditions
• Encouraged and empowered to spend an overall lesser amount of time worrying about their health

5.4. Healthy Environment

Since person-centred care is focused mainly on making the patient a priority, healthcare providers and administrators endeavour to present a healthy physical, social, and cultural environment of care services. They are able to do so by offering a supportive staff that is specially trained to prioritise patients and their families and deal with situations arising in healthcare centres.

Person-centred care not only provides a balanced approach to gauging people’s needs regarding their requirements and expectations from the healthcare sector, but it also ensures that care services are: 

• Flexible
• Accessible
• Reasonably Priced

In the End 

In person-centred care, a service user’s personal health needs and wants are kept as the caregivers’ focal point, and care plans are designed specifically according to each individual’s needs.

The concept of what is person-centred care creates an equal footing between the care providers and users so that an individual is treated not only clinically but also from a financial, mental, social, and emotional perspective. Thus, it ultimately leads to an individual living an independent and fulfilling life.

Last Updated on April 1, 2024 by Arnab Nandi