Tammy Allen, Region Director, Patient Experience and Relations, Trinity Health
It’s no secret that patient experience within hospitals and health systems has evolved over the years – especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In honor of Patient Experience Week (PX Week), it’s a good time to recognize the strong, positive impact of patient-centered care. Now more than ever, healthcare leaders must consider these collaborative, compassionate approaches that not only benefit patients and providers, but also enhance a hospital’s culture, reputation and viability.
What is the philosophy and impact of patient-centered care?
While the terminology often varies across organizations, the foundational concept of any patient-centered care model is to put patients and their caregiver(s) at the center of all decision-making. Oftentimes, these efforts are referred to as Person- and Family-Centered Care (PFCC) or Person and Family Engagement (PFE).
Regardless of what it goes by, the primary goal is to foster collaboration between patients, families and healthcare staff. I can confirm both first-hand and from sources including the National Library of Medicine that implementing patient-centered care can result in better health outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, safer and more desirable workplaces and reduced costs.
Recent changes to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey help reflect the evolution of patient-centered care, aiming to better capture the complexities of the modern patient experience. These measures focus on:
- Patient-Centered Communication: Ensuring patients and their caregiver(s) are given clear explanations of diagnoses, treatment and medication instructions.
- Patient and Family Involvement: Ensuring patients and their caregiver(s) feel well-informed and involved in the decision-making process for every step of the care plan, from intake to discharge.
- Seamless, Compassionate Care: Ensuring hospital and healthcare teams collaborate and communicate effectively to create a seamless patient experience and prevent lapses in care. This principle also places emphasis on delivering compassionate, personalized care to meet every patient’s unique needs.
What is required to make a patient-centered care model successful and sustainable?
There are few key elements necessary to implement and maintain patient-centered care within a hospital or health system. This includes:
- Leadership buy-in to access the necessary resources and tools to implement, enhance and sustain a patient-centered care model.
- Education and training to help healthcare teams understand the value of patient-centered care and effectively implement new practices.
- Employee engagement to foster a culture that embraces patient-centered care practices and maintains collaboration across teams.
What tools exist for hospitals and health systems looking to adopt a patient-centered care model (especially those with limited resources)?
The MHA Person & Family Engagement (PFE) Roadmap is a great tool that offers guidance on how to introduce or re-engage patient-centered care practices. The roadmap provides standardized definitions, policies and actionable steps for healthcare teams. Later this Spring, members of the MHA PFE Advisory Council will share how to integrate the roadmap in two PFE Improvement Sprint webinars, which are free of charge to MHA members:
- April 30, 2025 (Noon – 1 p.m.): Hospital Staffing and Structures Needed to Support and Coordinate PFE Activities. This webinar will share examples of ways to build leadership support and engage other healthcare staff, whether by having patient representation on improvement initiatives or having patients and caregivers participate in discharge planning with healthcare staff.
- May 21, 2025 (Noon – 1 p.m.): Deploying PFE Roadmap Strategies to Improve Patient Safety and Quality, Outcomes, Experiences, and Support Hospital Priorities. This webinar will outline how to involve patients and families in value-mapping, like having patients outline the touchpoints with healthcare staff that are valuable to them or having hospital literature outlining patients’ rights and responsibilities.
What wisdom would you pass along to healthcare teams implementing or re-engaging patient-centered care practices?
If you are a patient experience leader like me, use your voice and expertise to share the far-reaching benefits of patient-centered care. In addition to enhancing the overall clinical experience, these efforts help ensure those who walk through your doors feel valued, involved and understood.
