Patient-Centered Care

[happyhelpert]

:welcome:

I wanted to open a discussion about Patient-Centered Care. What things are you doing at your hospital / unit that you consider innovative in promoting patient-centered care?

[ukstudent]

Patient-centered care is the problem with hospitals. Hospitals should be health-centered.

ie: after any abdominal surgery it hurts to get to cough a deep breath and get up and walk. Patient-centered - pt's want pain free surgery that they then do not have to put any work into getting better. Health-centered - You make them cough/ deep breath and move to stop the pneumonia and ilius that can develop.

[deeDawntee, RN]

Patient centered care was a catch phrase around my institution for awhile but in my estimation was oxymoronic. It is just so freakin' obvious... now I believe our nursing practice is so widely defined that there is no simple "catch phrase". I know evidence-based practice and best practice is very important in the overall statement. This makes much more sense to me. It defines for me that I am always looking to grow and improve in my own practice and ability as a nurse and to actually depend on nursing research to do that. I like that our nursing philosophy actually empowers nursing instead of insulting our intelligence!!

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

At the moment my NICU is pondering having parents participate in rounds. Only thing is that we have an open floor plan. HIPAA, schmipaa.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

In my opinion, nurses have always given "patient-centered care." The issue seems to be that in the past it was assumed that we were doing what was best for the patient, not necessarily what the patient wanted- as in turn, cough, deep breathe, get up and walk, I know your incision hurts but you need to do it anyway. Or as in letting the patient feed himself or herself or bathe himself or herself, if able, to preserve function.

If the current definition of "patient-centered care" means "make the patient happy regardless" then that's what would have been called "poor care" 25 years ago!!

[RN1989]

Many years ago one hospital decided that the patients would remain in one room for the entire stay. They made all equipment portable, including the nurses. If the pt needed ICU, then ICU nurses and equipment would be brought to that room. If the pt needed surgery, he went to the OR and then went back to his same room with a PACU nurse. Same thing for med/surg level care. I heard it didn't work out so hot and stopped doing it.

Generally when I hear hospitals talking about going to pt centered care, the staff ends up with a load of manure about pt satisfaction scores and how we are supposed to kiss our pt's butts instead of giving them the actual care that they need. Like UKStudent said, the pts want to be at a spa, they don't care that they have to go on a vent because of the bad pneumonia they got as a post-op CABG because they didn't want to TCDB. People want it to be like it was 100 years ago when people went into the hospital for little things and then laid in bed for 6 weeks waited on hand and foot, only to discover that they now had more problems and got to lay around another 6 weeks to fix the complications from laying around.