Person-centered care content in medicine, occupational therapy, nursing, and physiotherapy education programs

Abstract

Background Although person-centered care (PCC) ensures high-quality care for patients, studies have shown that it is unevenly applied in clinical practice. The extent to which future health care providers are currently offered education in PCC at their universities is unclear. We aimed to clarify the PCC content offered to students as a basis for their understanding by exploring the PCC content of Swedish national study programs in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy. Methods Using a qualitative document analysis design, we sampled the steering documents from all higher education institutions (n = 48) with accreditation in medicine (n = 7), nursing (n = 25), occupational therapy (n = 8), or physiotherapy (n = 8) at a single time point. All national study programs (n = 4), local program syllabuses (n = 48), and local course syllabuses (n = 799) were reviewed using a 10-item protocol. Results We found no content related to PCC in the steering documents at the national level. At the local level, however, signs of PCC were identified in local program syllabuses and local course syllabuses. Seven of the 48 local program syllabuses (15%) included PCC in their intended learning outcomes. Eight of the 799 local course syllabuses (1%) contained course titles that included the phrase ‘person-centered care,’ and another 101 listed 142 intended learning outcomes referring to PCC. A total of 21 terms connected to PCC were found, and the term ‘person-centered care’ was most commonly used in the nursing programs and least commonly in the medical programs. Conclusions There is a broad range in how the national study programs in Sweden have incorporated PCC. The implementation has been driven by a bottom-up strategy. A deliberate and standardized strategy is needed to ensure full implementation of PCC into clinical curricula in higher education.

Person-centred care on the move – an interview study with programme directors in Swedish higher education

“…The programme directors in the current study, described a process of implementation carried forward mainly through informal processes and by individuals with a specific interest in PCC. Our previous study supports a finding that implementation of PCC is driven by bottom-up processes, as in initiated by local course leaders [ 21 ]. The programme directors described how the implementation was carried forward through champions such as professors and other influential persons who were positive towards and even had a research interest in PCC.…”

“…In Europe, higher education is driven by the Bologna process, which focuses on general national learning objectives, and freedom is given to universities and colleges to design content and implement local programme syllabuses and local course syllabuses [ 18 , 19 ]. A previous study from our group exploring the PCC content in national study programmes, found that content related to PCC (including related concepts such as patient-centred consultation or client-centred practice), was limited, a finding in line with a study from Canada [ 20 , 21 ].…”

“…Programme directors stated that PCC needed adaptation to the different local course syllabuses, and a number of understandings and levels of knowledge existed among them. An innovation having a vague definition is a previously known barrier towards implementation [ 30 ] and in a previous study reviewing local programme syllabuses and local course syllabuses we identified as many as 21 different terms connected to PCC [ 21 ]. A lack of clarity about what constitutes PCC was also present in a study of UK where teachers and leaders from nursing and medical programmes were interviewed [ 32 ].…”

How to maximise asynchronous video resources that have been co‐produced with patient partners

“…However, the volume of person-centred care content varies broadly in HPE. 1 One acknowledged approach to designing curriculum that is personcentred is to embed resources that have been co-produced by patients with lived and living experience. 2,3 In this article, we aim to provide a guideline for the inclusion of asynchronous interdisciplinary video resources that have been co-produced by patients with lived and living experience.…”

“…Ensuring that health professional education (HPE) is person centred is vital in the pursuit of person‐centred clinical care. However, the volume of person‐centred care content varies broadly in HPE 1 . One acknowledged approach to designing curriculum that is person‐centred is to embed resources that have been co‐produced by patients with lived and living experience 2,3 .…”