Introduction
The modern healthcare sector is a complex system depending on multiple factors that should be considered to guarantee the appropriate care delivery to patients. Under these conditions, the correct understanding of the existing practices, theories, and models is vital for specialists. However, the constant development of the sphere preconditions the emergence of new approaches, methods, and concepts related to peculiarities of treatment and cooperation with clients. It means that the ability to analyze a particular idea and apply it to real-life conditions acquires the top priority to attain better outcomes.
The provided paper is devoted to the analysis of the concept of patient-centered care, which is one of the significant frameworks in healthcare today. The use of Walker and Avant’s methods of analysis presupposes eight stages, such as choosing a concept, outlining the goal of the discussion, emphasis on all uses of the selected concept, defining attributes, identifying a model case, selecting borderline cases, identifying antecedents and consequences, and discussion of defining empirical references (Yazdani et al., 2016). Following these phases, the analysis of patient-centered care will be performed.
In general, the notion can be defined as the approach presupposing the provision of care respectfully and responsively to ensure that all patients’ values and needs are met and serve as the guide for all medical decisions (Almaze & de Beer, 2017). Today, with the shift towards practices presupposing the active clients’ participation and the increased attention to their needs and demands, the given idea acquires the top priority as the model helping to consider the diversified needs and provide care in ways that can enhance the state of patients and their satisfaction levels.
In such a way, the rationale for selecting the concept of patient-centered care is its importance in modern practice. Most caregivers view it as a practical and potent way to treat patients and cooperate with them during the process. Additionally, the scope of the concept and its constant improvement through research and the creation of new methods ensure its applicability to numerous cases. Under these conditions, health workers should be ready to possess a better vision of the given idea to employ it and organize the provision of care in ways outlined by this framework. Furthermore, patient and family-centered care practices can guarantee better outcomes in emergent cases as collaboration might help to distribute roles and reduce response time. Under these conditions, the choice of the concept is explained by its relevance and significance.
Literature Review
The idea of patient-centered care is used in all areas of practice. The basic principle of the paradigm stating that the needs of a patient and his/her values have critical importance applies to numerous cases and departments. Under these conditions, today, most health facilities operate within the given field and proclaim the importance of patient-centered care as the way to create trusting relations with clients and ensure they take an active part in the treatment and recovery process (Almaze & de Beer, 2017). Moreover, the practical use of the given idea preconditions its spread and employment by specialists working with various conditions, problems, or health issues. Furthermore, the necessity to work with patients belonging to many cultures or social groups also guarantees the increased topicality of the idea.
The diversity of possible applications of the idea of patient-centered care preconditions its ability to function in different settings. For the analysis, the emergency care unit setting and the work of the emergency nurse seem the preferable choice as it helps to conduct a better investigation and outline the major factors linked to the concept. Thus, there are no limits regarding the age or gender of patients, as the central idea of patient-centered care is the consideration of their unique peculiarities to create the most comfortable environment. Under these conditions, applying the framework to the work of emergency units and nurses, it is possible to ensure better outcomes by cooperating with patients and their families to manage complex conditions.
The existing body of evidence also recognizes the critical importance of patient-centered care and its positive impact on outcomes. Thus, Boisvert et al. (2017) assume that today clinicians combine evidence-based practice and client preferences to inform decision-making and select the best possible care delivery strategies. It guarantees the gradual shift towards the patient-centered ideal, presupposing the leading role of the individual in the treatment process (Boisvert et al., 2017).
Supporting such approaches with scientific evidence, practitioners can use the newest and most effective practices to meet the clients’ needs (Boisvert et al., 2017). It means that the current cases of the concept’s use are almost unlimited and linked to different situations, scenarios, and conditions. It provides the basis for the further development of the idea and increase of its scope.
Moreover, the patient-centered approach presupposing family involvement also becomes widely used when working with older adults. Jayadevappa (2017) says that by possessing the required information for clinical decisions and being provided with an appropriate assessment of preferences, people belonging to this category can make better decisions about their health (Jayadevappa, 2017). Family involvement in decision-making and provision of support can also ensure that the elderly will benefit from improved conditions and treatment (Jayadevappa, 2017). It means that the patient-centered approach can be viewed as advantageous in cases when people aged over 65 are involved (Jayadevappa, 2017).
At the same time, it is vital to integrate the ideas of value-based care to ensure the correct assessment and evaluation of current needs (Jayadevappa, 2017). The practical use of the approach is evidenced by positive outcomes among such clients.
Patient-centered care has several vital attributes that should be considered when planning the care delivery in terms of this framework. First of all, it should presuppose the coordination and integration of care between all specialists (Miller & Peck, 2019). In such a way, one of the major attributes is the need for interaction between health care personnel teams and patients with the primary goal to attain desired outcomes (Miller & Peck, 2019).
At the same time, the four main principles create the basis for delivering patient-centered care. (Miller & Peck, 2019) assumes that these are treating people with dignity, provision of coordinated care, personalization of care, and enabling service users to recognize their strengths (Miller & Peck, 2019). These core attributes create the basis for establishing the appropriate patient-centered care and delivering high-quality services to patients.
For emergencies, patient-centered and family-centered care also play a critical role. Almaze and de Beer (2017) state that most ED nurses acknowledge the importance of this model and recognize the need for its use. However, there are also several challenges arising from the nature of this paradigm. For instance, potential stressors to family-centered care include the deterioration of the patient’s condition, uncertain outcomes, pain experienced by a client, and an unfamiliar environment (Almaze & de Beer, 2017). These factors can deteriorate the decision-making of family members or clients and should be managed by health workers to attain better results. However, regardless of such challenges, patient-centered care remains an advantageous way of cooperating with people and analyzing their current needs to create a better environment.
Finally, the existing research admits that the patient-centered approach can be beneficial in most cases peculiar to the modern healthcare sector. Cogitating on the given concept, Ortiz (2018) states that this framework has become central to nursing practice and knowledge mostly because of its attributes that include applicability to a variety of healthcare settings. In other words, the patient-centered approach becomes integrated with the nursing theory and shapes it to adapt to the existing environment (Ortiz, 2018). That is why the new policies developed under the impact of this concept focus on patients’ needs and the necessity to satisfy them (Ortiz, 2018). In such a way, the analyzed sources evidence the increased relevance of this framework and the fundamental role it plays in the current healthcare sector.
Empirical References
The scope of the idea of patient-centered care and its universal nature preconditioned the emergence of various experiences linked to its use in real-life conditions. Thus, empirical referents are specific classes or categories of the concept that demonstrate its occurrence (Ortiz, 2018). Speaking about patient-centered care, empirical references can be observable behaviors needed to check the existence of specific practices used by nurses in their medical practice (Miller & Peck, 2019). It presupposes the ways nurses in emergency departments work with clients and acquire information about their needs and demands to guarantee that care is provided in the most effective ways helping to create a beneficial environment and promote better treatment. Moreover, it might include changes in healthcare settings needed to introduce the concept and observe it in practice.
Moreover, the empirical references related to the concept might include the guidelines evolved under the impact of patient-centered care and serve as the major tool to ensure the implementation of the basic strategies in real-life environments. For instance, the use of the given framework presupposes close cooperation with patients and the creation of trust relations which is possible only in terms of the specific environment created within a selected unit (Miller & Peck, 2019). Under these conditions, the real experience shows that the implementation of patient-centered care is only possible when the staff and health teams are aware of its central conceptions and are provided with an opportunity to apply them (Miller & Peck, 2019). It demands the participation of managers and other authorities.
The existence of empirical referents also means that there are some attempts to structure the leading ideas of patient-centered care and introduce ways to measure it. From the existing examples, it is possible to outline the notion that the patient-centered care outcomes serve as the major factors helping to measure its effectiveness in various settings and conclude about the possibility of the further use of this model (Miller & Peck, 2019). Analyzing the relevant data of a unit, it is possible to outline the improvements preconditioned by shifting to the broad employment of the given concept and its dominance (Ortiz, 2018). Additionally, the level of patients’ engagement and satisfaction can also serve as indicators that can be measured to determine the applicability of the idea and its ability to cultivate positive outcomes.
At the same time, there are numerous attempts to develop new ways of measuring the concept to introduce positive change and create the basis for further improvement. One of the possible methods is the cooperation with both caregivers and patients to determine the nature of relations between them and outline whether there are areas that can be reconsidered (Miller & Peck, 2019). This way of measuring presupposes collecting empirical knowledge and information linked to real-life experiences and their processing with the primary goal to acquire facts that might help to introduce new, more effective ways of cooperating with clients (Miller & Peck, 2019). That is why there are attempts to outline new ways to measure patient-centered care.
Antecedents and Consequences
As stated above, the growing importance of patient-centered care is explained by the need to consider the diversified demands of clients. For this reason, one of the concept’s antecedents is the shift of priorities toward meeting patients’ needs during the treatment process (Miller & Peck, 2019). It means that the notion should be preceded by creating an environment beneficial for trust relations between a clinician and a person who requires care (Almaze & de Beer, 2017). Moreover, the hospital setting should be prepared for involving patients in care delivery processes, meaning that nurses should have guidelines and clear ways to explain interventions and their effects (Miller & Peck, 2019). Only under these conditions, it is possible to expect positive results.
The successful implementation of the concept in real-life settings preconditions the emergence of positive shifts and multiple consequences. First, it results in the establishment of trust relations between a patient and his/her doctor, which is one of the major determinants of success (Boisvert et al., 2017). Second, the focus on patients’ needs and involvement helps to create a favorable environment which is proven to have a more significant positive impact compared to the traditional one (Boisvert et al., 2017). The adherence to the patient-centered care model reduces the number of issues and claims, as all clients’ demands are considered, and the hospital can function effectively (Ortiz, 2018). Finally, it creates the basis for future improvement as nurses and physicians can select among methods that are appraised by clients.
In such a way, implementation of the concept of patient-centered care promotes multiple positive results in real-life practice and ensures that health workers might have better chances to deliver care in ways that are appreciated by clients and help to meet their needs. It can be viewed as the main positive result leading to future successes and the emergence of new opportunities.
Conclusion
Altogether, the concept of patient-centered care can be defined as providing the demanded interventions in ways that consider the clients’ needs and engaging them in the treatment process. The application of the Walker and Avant method helps to define the concept and outline its major features, such as a focus on dignity, coordinated care, cooperation with clients, and establishment of trust relations. Moreover, there is a need for specific conditions to organize the delivery of care following the given framework, however, its successful implementation ensures positive outcomes and the ability to improve the results of care delivery. In such a way, patient-centered care remains one of the essential concepts for the modern healthcare sector.
References
Almaze, J., & de Beer, J. (2017). Patient- and family-centred care practices of emergency nurses in emergency departments in the Durban area, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Southern African Journal of Critical Care, 33(2), 59-66. Web.
Boisvert, I., Clemesha, J., Lundmark, E., Crome, E., Barr, C., & McMahon, C. M. (2017). Decision-making in audiology: Balancing evidence-based practice and patient-centered care. Trends in Hearing, 21. Web.
Jayadevappa, R. (2017). Patient-centered outcomes research and patient-centered care for older adults: A perspective. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 3. Web.
Miller, L. R., & Peck, B. M. (2019). Patient-centered care: An examination of provider–patient communication over time. Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, 6. Web.
Ortiz, M. R. (2018). Patient-centered care: Nursing knowledge and policy. Nursing Science Quarterly, 31(3), 291–295. Web.
Yazdani, S., Hosseini, F., & Ahmady, S. (2016). System based practice: a concept analysis. Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, 4(2), 45–53.