Person-centered care is a clinical best practice where the patient(person) and care team are involved in co-producing, defining, developing, and executing their own treatment plan and care pathway. The person is a stakeholder whose voice is heard and ideals recognized by the clinical stakeholders of the care experience. It is an all-inclusive operating system that delivers value and is designed to improve patient experiences and outcomes while decreasing cost. As the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing explains: 

“The word patient tends to objectify and reduce the person to a mere recipient of medical services, or to ‘one who is acted on’ [12]. Person-centered care highlights the importance of knowing the person behind the patient – as a human being with reason, will, feelings, and needs – in order to engage the person as an active partner in his/her care and treatment [13].”(Kjellgren, 2021).

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This concept of person-centeredness requires a different approach to the care experience than the traditional medical care model. One main focus of the person-centered approach to the healthcare experience is recognizing that every single person involved in the care process should be valued. Both the patient and their staff have needs and wishes that should be met.

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 How can your organization become more person-centered? Start by shadowing to engage and identify all stakeholders.

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Shadowing (aka process mapping, patient journey mapping, etc), and goShadow as a digital tool, are tools to first determine the current state of care delivery and interactions. Patients, families, and care teams act as equal stakeholders in this first step and as such are able to collaboratively co-design and co-produce each step of the care delivery pathway and experience. Once the true current state of a pathway is mapped–through silos and pieces of the experience such as appointment scheduling, parking, dietary services, etc– opportunities for improvement can be collaboratively identified and person-centered process improvement teams created to envision and execute on an ideal state of operating. From there, the teams act to make stepwise changes to the pathway by identifying improvement projects and strategic measures to close the gaps between current and ideal states.  In doing so, these teams are actively engaged in the overall transformation of the micro and macro experience–bringing all people involved, from care teams to patients, joy and engagement. 

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goShadow has applied this methodology and collaboration with partners worldwide, such as UPMC, which  has led to less than a 1% turnover rate in a high volume med-surg unit as well as top HCAHPS scores in the country. Would you like to discover the true current state of a care pathway and to be more person-centered for all? Contact goShadow to get started today.

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Sources Cited:

Kjellgren, K. (2021, May 11). Person-centered care - ready for prime time. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. Retrieved August 4, 2022, from https://www.academia.edu/18345036/Person_centered_care_Ready_for_prime_time?from=cover_page 

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