What Does It Take to Provide Patient-Centered Care?
<p>While patients often give high ratings to their hospitals and health care providers, they also report significant problems getting critical information about treatment options and medications, and receiving responsive, compassionate service from their caregivers.<br><br>In the new Commonwealth Fund report, <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=30320&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecommonwealthfund%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D559715%26%23doc559715">Patient-Centered Care: What Does It Take?</a>, Dale Shaller discusses the steps health care organizations must take to meet patients' expectations for quality care, and presents case studies of two innovative health systems that have successfully implemented patient-centered care programs. In addition to engaged leadership and a clearly communicated vision, Shaller finds that a high degree of patient and family involvement, a supportive work environment, systematic measurement and feedback, and deployment of information technology all play critical roles.<br><br>The report, which was commissioned by the Picker Institute, concludes with an overview of strategies that can help organizations overcome barriers to patient-centered care.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2007/oct/what-does-it-take-to-provide-patient-centered-care