Person Centered Care: Empowering Patients and Delivering Holistic Patient Care

Abstract

Patients are an important stakeholder in the healthcare programs and it is imperative to listen to and address their concerns if we want to make a robust healthcare system.1,2 This has been recognized with the advent of patient/person centered care. The Picker’s eight-point model provides a framework to ensure this provision. Person-centered care is a multifaceted team-based approach that helps healthcare professionals avoid making assumptions or relying on old paternalistic attitudes of physicians; in which the patient remained passive and the major decisions were made by the medical team. The advantage of this framework is that instead of making decisions for patients, it gives patients the power to express what they need and what they are capable of. With this shared decision-making the patients take more responsibility and are then largely compliant with their medication plans. It also encourages health-care workers to think about their actions, become more self-aware, and grow both personally and professionally. The Picker’s Eight Principles of Person Centered Care were detailed by Harvard Medical School on behalf of Picker Institute. Employing focus group discussions to gather data of this qualitative research, initially seven points were presented with the later addition of the eighth point about access to care. This also signifies the importance of qualitative research in healthcare; apart from quantitative research to gather systematic, rigorous scientific inquiry. Patients, family members, physicians, para medical and auxiliary hospital staff participated in the focus group discussions which lead to the formulation of this eight-point model. The composition of focus groups ensured that patients and their families voices were heard and acknowledged.