Patient-Centered Care canbring a Significant Change in Healthcare Approach

With the healthcare industry growing leaps and bounds, there is a dire need to focus on delivering better healthcare services in a cost-effective way. As a result, healthcare providers are on the lookout to develop a sustainable model of healthcare delivery that benefits patients and healthcare providers alike. For this, the industry needs to return to its patient-centered care model that empowers patients and strives to provide better and affordable healthcare. There is need not be any arguing about the fact that improving the relationship between consumers and the services would benefit in delivering high-quality care and services. Indeed, a personalized and coordinated patient-centered care with compassion and respect for the consumers is what can provide the right framework to address the existing healthcare challenges.

Today, patient-centered healthcare model continues to remain as a strategy that would help bring a positive impact on clinical effectiveness and deliver a value-based healthcare to fix the entire healthcare system once for all. In that sense, it is important for the healthcare industry to take patient-centric care as more than a trend and consider making fundamental changes into the system in terms of retooling business models, training professionals with a new sense of value and respect for patients, as well as embracing technology, whenever appropriate.

What is Patient-Centered Care?

Patient-centered care, as a healthcare model, is responsive to the needs, preferences, and values of the consumers, providing efficient healthcare not only from a clinical perspective but from the emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and financial perspective as well. It adopts:(1) Individual (2)Carer (3) Familyand (4) communityperspective &Healthcare. Unlike the traditional model where the healthcare provider is at the center of the decision-making process, the patient-centered care model enables patients to have an active role in deciding the kind of treatment and healthcare opted. Information about the treatment and possible alternative options are shared fully with the patients and families in a timely manner so that they can make informed decisions.

In patient-centered care, the specific health needs of the patient and the clinical outcomes desired by him/her are considered to be the main driving force behind the decision-making process and quality measurements related to healthcare. Patients are allowed to design a customized and comprehensive healthcare place in collaboration with the healthcare providers for a coordinated and accessible care that is delivered at the right time in the right place. In a nutshell, patient-centered care focuses not only on physical comfort but also on the emotional well-being of the patients, taking into account their family preferences, social values, cultural traditions, and socioeconomic conditions.

What are the Benefits of Patient-Centered Care?

The primary goal of patient-centered care lies in improving individual health outcomes along with benefiting the healthcare providers and healthcare systems. Improved patient satisfaction scores, enhanced reputation for the healthcare providers, and reduced expenses make patient-centered care a beneficial model that generates better morale and productivity among healthcare professionals, clinicians, and ancillary staff. Besides, it offers several other benefits as defined below:

Improving the Overall Patient Health Outcomes

One of the main reason to implement a patient-centered model is that it had consistently proven to improve patient health outcomes at varying levels of healthcare. Moreover, patient-centric healthcare supports experience, expertise, and scientific knowledge as a whole for a holistic healthcare delivery. Patients receiving healthcare through this kind of model become more engaged in the delivery of healthcare and are happier and satisfied.  Moreover, having good knowledge about their problems and treatment options helps them stay well informed of its complications and preventive measures, as a result of which, their clinical efficacy continues to mount.

Meeting the Needs and Expectations

A person-centered approach in healthcare paves way for active participation of patients and families through shared decision making and self-management support, thus enabling them to define the preferred health outcome, decide for the treatment that is best to their needs and expectations,as well as manage their health and care. In short, patient-centered care provides the opportunity and support for patients to make decisions about treatment and care in partnership with the health professionals.This way of taking into account the patient’s preferences and expectations and letting them play an active role in deciding their healthcare needs brings improved patient satisfaction. The feeling that their healthcare needs are met and their concerns heard often makes patients satisfied and happier with the care they receive.

Respect within the Healthcare Setting

Patients have the right to be treated with respect to their concerns and privacy and this is what exactly the patient-centered care approach does. Recognizing the needs of the patients and respecting their choices/decisions increases patient involvement in the healthcare setting.  Healthcare has to be delivered in a way that it respects patients without discrimination of their gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, social/cultural backgrounds, or religious beliefs.

So, as you can see, with the modern healthcare returning to its patient-centered model, it is possible to bring a significant change to the healthcare approach. Establishing a strong relationship between healthcare provider and patient and placing the needs/preferences of the patients in the forefront would bring focus on the patient and help healthcare organizations resolve numerous peripheral challenges. To that end, healthcare services and government policies today have started supporting ways that put healthcare users, and not healthcare providers, at the center of care, and therefore have already paved way for creating a sustainable healthcare model for the years to come.

What Needs to be done- The following need to be done to make health system patient centered:

(a)The current health system was designed to address maternal child health, family planning and communicable disease. Now Non communicable disease(NCD) have emerged the whole health system in India including private health sector needs to be revamped of the current health needs are to addressed and made patient centered.

(b)Rennet Health care providers to provide patient centered approached by educating patients and empowering them to take decision for their health care.

(c)Education of patients through mass media and civil society organizations on their role and responsibilities to take charge of their health care.

Posted By :-

Dr. Sanjiv Kumar,
Director, International Institute of Health Management Research, Delhi
MBBS, MD, DNB(MCH), MBA, FIMAMS, FIAMS, FIPHA