Patient and family engaged care (PFEC) is care planned, delivered, managed, and continuously improved in active partnership with patients and their families (or care partners as defined by the patient) to ensure integration of their health and health care goals, preferences, and values. It includes explicit and partnered determination of goals and care options, and it requires ongoing assessment of the care match with patient goals. This vision represents a shift in the traditional role patients and families have historically played in their own health care teams, as well as in ongoing quality improvement and care delivery efforts. PFEC also represents an important shift from focusing solely on care processes to aligning those processes to best address the health outcomes that matter to patients. In a culture of PFEC, patients are not merely subjects of their care; they are active participants whose voices are honored. Family and/or care partners are not kept an arm's length away as spectators, but participate as integral members of their loved one's care team. Individuals' (and their families') expertise about their bodies, lifestyles, and priorities is incorporated into care planning and their care experience is valued and incorporated into improvement efforts.
The Institute of Medicine defines patient-centered care as "providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions." What is missing in this definition is an explicit emphasis on compassion. This perspective article draws on the experience of Planetree (CT, USA), a not-for-profit organization that partners with healthcare establishments to drive adoption of patient-centered care principles and practices by connecting healthcare professionals with the voices and perspectives of the patients and family members who utilize their services. Across hundreds of focus groups facilitated by Planetree, patients and their loved ones emphasize that paramount among their needs, preferences and values are compassionate human interactions. For care to be truly patient-centered, a foundation of compassion is essential. Reports from patients and the media, and research from healthcare systems around the world demonstrate the fallacy of assuming that compassion is a current or prevalent feature of the care experience. Concurrently, a growing evidence base highlights the supreme importance of compassion in driving high-quality, high-value care. However, good intentions are not sufficient for delivering compassionate care. Drawing on the experiences of exemplary patient-centered hospitals (recognized as such following a rigorous culture audit to determine fulfillment of the criteria for formal recognition as a Designated® Patient-Centered Hospital [Planetree]), this paper explores practical approaches for embedding compassion in healthcare delivery and organizational culture to meet patients' expressed desires for empathic and respectful human interactions.
This is the seventh and last in a series of articles from Planetree, an international non profit organization founded in 1978 that's "committed to improving medical care from the patient's perspective." For more information, go to www.planetree.org. To register for a free Webinar based on this series that starts on September 21, go to http://bit.ly/aezmEu.
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