Own your care experience.
Patient-centred care – what is it?
Patient-centred care is something that all Australians should benefit from.
According to the Australian Commission on Quality and Safety Health Care, patient-centred care is care that is respectful of, and responsive to, the preferences, needs and values of patients. The dimensions of patient-centred care include:
- Respect
- Emotional support
- Physical comfort
- Information and communication
- Continuity and Transition
- Care Coordination
- Involvement of Family and Carers
- Access to Care
Benefits of patient-centred care
Research shows that patient-centred care improves patients’ experience of their care. When health professionals, managers, patients, families and carers work together, quality and safety of health care increases, costs of health care decrease, health professionals better enjoy their work and patient’s experience of their care improves. (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2011), Patient-centred care: Improving quality and safety through partnerships with patients and consumers, ACSQHC, Sydney).
How do we get there?
So how does this work in practice? We truly can’t go past Oregon’s core attributes of Patient-Centred Primary Care Homes.
I believe that all involved in the delivery of health care should read this on a regular basis. I truly do believe this is the gold standard. This is what my patients demand of me, and anything less is unacceptable – to them and to me.