Patient-centered care
Treatment does not always require that the doctor does everything. The patient is the primary participant in the treatment and can make the treatment either effective or ineffective. Patient-centered care involves collaboration between the patient and the health officers in charge of a certain health facility. The idea behind patient-centered care is that the patient is allowed to express their beliefs, feelings, and preferences during the treatment process. Patient-centered care operates under various concepts that include respect, integration, comfort, family input, and communication. Information that is deemed helpful is also provided to the patients.
The success of patient-centered care depends on the implementation of the basic concepts defining the care procedure. First, respect is essential for successful patient-centered care. Patients need to be treated with the utmost care (Groves, 114). The officers in charge of the care program should always be aware that patient preferences change and thus, flexibility should be embraced. Also, the beliefs and feelings of the patients should be respected to create a positive rapport with the medical team for a successful process. Also, the care activities should be integrated in such a way that the patient is the main center of focus. The members of the medical team should be trained on the proper handling of patients under patient-centered care. Additionally, the comfort of the patient and family input should be given maximum attention in a patient-centered care plan. The needs of the patients should be taken with seriousness, and the patient should only be given the treatment that does not exceed their healthy levels. The family members should also be involved in making decisions that affect the welfare of the patient. Also, communication and passing information are crucial; especially in educating the patients where literacy levels a low. The choice of material to use significantly affects the success of patient-centered care.
Easy-To-Read (ETR) materials are the best for improving patient literacy levels. The basic assumption is that all patients require being educated on patient-centered care. The benefit of using ETR materials is that the target population is not known at the start, and thus, the choice of material should take care of everyone in the population (Aronis, 52). The reading materials chosen should always be written using low-level language that can be understood by the majority of the population. ETR materials always consider all the exemptions that could exist in a population and the ways to avoid such exemptions. For example, the preparation of ETR materials involves a prior research session to assess the possible population groups. Also, the ETR materials are written in an organized manner to avoid any cases of confusion when the patients are reading. The language used in writing ETR materials considers all the possible target populations and ensures that visual representation is properly done to capture the interest of as many patients as possible.
In sum, patient-centered care is a collaboration between the patient and the medical team. The success of patient-centered care depends upon embracing several concepts such as respect and comfort for the patient. The choice of material to educate patients is also crucial in improving the literacy levels of the patients. Easy-to-read materials are always the best materials to use when attempting to improve the patients’ literacy levels.
Works Cited
Aronis, Konstantinos N., et al. “Health literacy and atrial fibrillation: relevance and future directions for patient-centred care.” European cardiology 12.1 (2017): 52.
Groves, Joanna. “Person-Centered Patient Perspectives.” Person Centered Psychiatry. Springer, Cham, 2016. 113-125.