Principles of Person-Centered Care

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Principles of Person-Centered Care
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Principles of Person-Centered Care
Globally healthcare systems have embraced the concept of person-centered care as a way
of maximizing the needs of the patient. This is thus a way of thinking and doing things that see
the people using health and social services as equal (Moody, Nicholls, Shamji, Bridge, & Suman
Dhanju 2018, p. 290). This means that the care or treatment plan adopted is based on the
individual needs of the patient rather than a comprehensive plan that cuts across the whole
population. This implies the professional has to put the patients or their families at the center of
the decisions and seeing them as partners in health, thus working alongside with them leads to
the best outcomes. This approach is not just giving people what they want but rather considering
their values, desires, family situations, lifestyle and any social issues that may affect the health
outcomes of the patient. To apply this approach well, several principles of care must be applied
to make this method appropriate for the patient.
The first principle is the autonomy which entails providing choices and subsequent
respect for the choices made by the patient. This entails balancing the rights, risk, and
responsibilities of the patient to optimize care that fits the needs of the patient. This means that
the practitioner is not just supposed to make the decisions but rather involve the patient in
decision making by transferring this powers to the patient (Fazio, Pace, Flinner, & Kallmye
2018, p. 13). This means the practitioner allows independence to the patient or the family and
build on their strengths to develop care plans that reflect their interests and abilities. This
principle also serves as an ethical value that implies the professional having respect for the
freedom of the patient to make the decisions and proposals for the healthcare processes that they
prefer. To maximize patient autonomy, Weston (2010, p. 5) sugests that practitioners are
supposed to present adequate information to the patient and explain to them where there is need

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to maximize their ability to understand the issues that they are facing and the health approaches
that need to be done on them. This will lead to shared decision making which will, in turn,
improve the needs of the patient and lead to better outcomes. The application of the principle of
autonomy increases health outcomes since it leads to the high acceptance of the medical
decisions made on the patient. By being autonomous, the patient is assisted to weigh the choices
in the decisions that are to be made and pick the best decision that reflects their needs. Thus this
decision is attributed to maximized healthcare responses by the patient.
The principle of valuing people entails treating the patient with dignity and respect
through supporting their personal needs and perspectives. This entails listening to the patient and
allowing the patient to listen to you and working in partnership to design and deliver the services
that are required to the patient (Burke, Stein-Parbury, Luscombe, & Chenoweth, 2016, p. 284).
This principle entails the communication approaches that the nurse uses in communicating and
passing information to the patient. Since in nursing, there are different patient groups who may
come from different cultural backgrounds, then the practitioner needs to understand how such
groups related and the type of communication approaches that they value. For example,
Abdolrahimi, Ghiyasvandian, Zakerimoghadam, & Ebadi (2017, p. 4971) suggest that cultural
barriers are the biggest challenge in patient-centered care since some patients may not be
comfortable relating to some groups. Thus communication skills and the way the professional
present’s information is important in ensuring that the patient feels valued. This implies resecting
the cultural background of the patient in issues like religions, eating patterns and even drug
taking patterns. Such aspects need to be learned from the patient so that the practitioner can
develop a care plan that accommodates such needs. In most cases, if such needs are not put into