Perhaps not a definition, but a recent article by Joe Flower for the Center for Health Design, sheds some light on the subject:
Most physicians and health professionals agree that Mr. Elswit’s perception is typical: Sick people are treated
in effect like prisoners in many health-care settings. The people-centered health-care movement responds to this chronic neglect of the patient experience by proclaiming a call to arms. Hospitals, say leaders of this movement, should never add to the pain and trauma of being sick or injured.
There is no shortage of low-cost opportunities to build a better patient relationship. Some peoplecentered
practices are clinical, including the enforcement of such fundamental (but too often forgotten) measures as having doctors and nurses wash their hands between treatments, installing better ventilation in hospitals,
and responding reliably to the call button. (In a 2004 study of hospital accidents, the Center for Health
Design found that a major cause was patients struggling out of bed, alone, to go to the bathroom because no one showed up to help them.) Other innovations provide simple dignity: giving patients hospital gowns with
Velcro closure tabs or straps, for modesty; or training staff to answer telephones by the third ring, to knock
before entering a patient’s room, and to introduce themselves and explain what they’re there to do.
My impression is that there's real ambiguity with respect to this term. The problem with this is that the term can be used to push programs or agendas, leading to cynicism. I've seen doctors roll their eyes when they here this term. Not because they don't want change (they do), but because they've seen initiatives (under this guise) which have very little to do with improving care and more to do with hidden agendas. Even though there've been committed efforts to define what this is, it's not easy to really get handle on the meaning of this term (or phrase). Fortunately, the World Health Organization recently had a go of defining the core values of "people centered health:"
Empowerment
Participation
The central role of the family and community in any process of development, and
An end to gender and all other forms of discrimination.
WHO goes on to admit that, "Despite its long history and increasing popularity, people-centred health care has not been satisfactorily and collectively enunciated at the health system level." WHO goes on to describe the characteristics of such a system from the viewpoint of each stakeholder:
For individuals, patients and their families:
Access to clear, concise and intelligible health information and education that increase health literacy;
Equitable access to health systems, effective treatments, and psycho-social support;
Personal skills which allow control over health and engagement with health care systems: communication, mutual collaboration and respect, goal setting, decision making, and problem solving, self-care; and
Supported involvement in health care decision-making, including health policy.
For health practitioners:
Holistic approach to the delivery of health care;
Respect for patients and their decisions;
Recognition of the needs of people seeking health care;
Professional skills to meet these needs: competence, communication, mutual collaboration and respect, empathy, health promotion, disease prevention, responsiveness, and sensitivity;
Provision of individualized care;
Access to professional development and debriefing opportunities;
Adherence to evidence-based guidelines and protocols;
Commitment to quality, safety and ethical care;
Team work and collaboration across disciples, providing co-ordinated care and ensuring continuity of care.
In health care organizations:
Accessible to all people needing health care;
Commitment to quality, safety, and ethical care;
Safe and welcoming physical environment supportive of lifestyle, family, privacy and dignity;
Access to psychological and spiritual support during the care experience;
Acknowledgement of the importance of all staff - managerial, medical, allied health, ancillary – in the delivery of health care;
Employment and remuneration conditions that support team work people-centred health care;
Organisation of services that provide convenience and continuity of care to patients;
Service models that recognise psycho-social dimensions and support partnership between individuals, their families and health practitioners.
In health systems:
Primary care serves as the foundation;
Financing arrangements for health organisations that support partnership between health practitioners and people accessing health care;
Investment in health professional education that promote multidisciplinary team work, good communication skills, an orientation towards prevention, and integrates evidence about psychosocial dimensions of health care;
Avenues for patient grievances and complaints to be addressed;
Collaboration with local communities;
Involvement of consumers in health policy;
Transparency.
Conclusion
I highlighted in red the items which, for me, are the clearest components that can provide a notable change in health care. First off is giving people (patients) access to quality health information. This is easier said than done for we need to define what quality means (e.g., not skewed towards the Pharma view, etc.). Secondly, there's a holistic approach to delivery of health care. This could be quite revolutionary if we include alternative medicine (e.g., herbal medicine, acupunture, etc.) as a valid component of health care delivery.
Teamwork and collaboration (as equal partners) among various stakeholders such as doctors, ancillary staff, etc. combined with a focus on continuity of care seems to me as something that easier to state and much, much harder to execute. Last but not least are transparency and recognizing the importance of Primary care in the whole process.
These concepts are easy to put in a blog post. Nevertheless, I've been around enough doctors (e.g., Dad and brother) to know that these changes are extremely hard to imagine. Why am I writing about all of this? The reason is that I really believe (am I naive?) that the web presents a tool that can really drive these changes. How exactly can this tool (web) drive something as complex as change in health care? I'll leave that for my next post. :)
