Patient Centered care is the QSEN competency which is directed at a patient individuality, his/her needs and values, at the right time and “ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions” (Epstein, Fiscella, Lesser, & Stange, 2010, p. 1). Being a registered nurse, a person should be aware of the needs patients have and the values they experience. Due to the latest changes in the health care system in the context of the reforms, patient centered care is reflected in professional nursing standards, positively impacts the quality of the nation’s health, incorporated into a specific nursing practice setting and supplements to the knowledge, skills and attitude nurses have.
Due to the health care reform, patients’ expectations about the healthcare have changed. A new project has been created where appeared “the revised standards for patient-centered communication as part of its project to advance effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-and family-centered care” (Wilson-Stronks, Schyve, Rodriguez, 2010, p. 57). Having considered the changes presupposed by the new project the nurses are going experience in the frames of the patient centered care, they are as follows.
Language interpreters and translators should be available, the hospitals should conduct an effective communications with the patients it supports with the care and treatment, race and ethnicity should be mentioned in the medical record to treat a patient according to his/her beliefs. Moreover, a relative can stay with a person for emotional support (Wilson-Stronks, Schyve, Rodriguez, 2010). Thus, the shift of the societal expectations about the patient centered care has impacted the standards for nurses.
Using patient centered care nursing can positively impact the quality of the nations’ health. First of all, this approach allows to get rid of unnecessary and wanted services. The opportunity of the family to participate in decision making allows focusing on what is important for the patient. According to the research, nurses can positively impact the nation’s health within the following dimensions, high attention to the patients’ values and needs, coordination and integration, informing and communicating with the patients, achieving physical and emotional comfort, friends and family involvement, transition and continuity and the access to care (Shaller, 2007). The implementation of these approaches as the part of nursing directed at patient centered care can be really helpful for the whole nations’ heath.
According to Cravens (2009), “increasing patient safety through improving patient-provider communication… means more frequent, more prompt disclosure of medical errors’ occurrence and quicker, more earnest apologies once they have occurred” (p. 141). Using the main idea of this expression, it can be competed that patient centered care may help reduce the number of medical errors as communication is one of the parts of the patient centered care competency.
Developing good attitude to patients, substantial knowledge and continuing studying in practice and constantly increasing skills in the chosen field in practice are the main means how nurses can improve care and patient outcomes. The understanding of the main principles of patient centered care may help, those are parents and friends involvement, meeting patients’ values and needs, and shared and informed decision making (Patient-centered care, n.d.).
Patient centered care principles may be important for Mental Health nurses as the cooperation with the family, understanding the environment at home and communication not only while appointment, but in other time helps see the dynamics of the disease development. Moreover, if children are treated, the participation of the parents in decision making and staying at the hospital for emotional support is extremely important and may help recover faster.
Reference List
Cravens, C., & Earp, J. (2009). Disclosure and apology: patient-centered approaches to the public health problem of medical error. North Carolina Medical Journal, 70(2), 140-146.
Epstein, R. M., Fiscella, K, Lesser, C. S., & Stange, K. C. (2010). Why the nation needs a policy push on patient-centered health care. Health Care, 29(8), 1-7.
Patient-centered care: General. (n.d.). Institute for Health Improvement. Web.
Shaller, D. (2007). Patient-centered care: What does it take? The Commonwealth Fund. Web.
Wilson-Stronks, A., Schyve, P., Rodriguez, I., & Youdelman, M. (2010). Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals. The Joint Commission. Web.