Concept of Person Centered Care in Australian Healthcare

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Concept of person centered care in the contemporary Australian Healthcare setting
Introduction
Person centered care, involves providing care to patients in a meaningful and respected way. It
involves respecting the decision of the patient (patient autonomy). Person centered care improves
the well-being and outcomes while caring for Aboriginals and other patients. Healthcare
professions should therefore master this concept and incorporate it while providing care to
patients. Within the framework of this assignment, there will be an analysis of the concept of
person centered care and the concept of autonomy and how it relates to the provided case study.
Discussion
Person centered care, according to the Australian healthcare setting is caring for patients
in a meaningful and valuable manner. This involves listening, informing and finally involving
the patients and their families in the decision making processes (Bardes, 2012). Similarly, the
Institute of Medicine describe patient centered care as offering healthcare that is respectful,
responsive and in accordance to the preferences, needs and values of the patient. Actually, there
is no standard definition of person centered care (Barry & Edgman-Levitan, 2012). The
definitions vary depending with context. The rationale of person centered care is to improve
healthcare outcomes or the quality of healthcare provided to patients.
In the Australian healthcare setting, there are eight overarching principles of person
centered care. First of all, there should be respect for patient’s values, preferences as well as their
expressed needs. In this principle, the healthcare experts are supposed to involve patients in the
decision making process. Furthermore, the patients should be treated with dignity, respect as well

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as sensitivity (Constand, MacDermid, Dal Bello-Haas, & Law, 2014). Like for the case of Gwen,
whatever she desires of feels is correct for she should be respected. The second principle of
person centered care is coordination and integration of care. In the Australian healthcare setting,
majority of patients report feeling vulnerable and powerless when they are ill (Lusk & Fater,
2013). However, the principle of coordination according to studies, can alleviate such feelings.
Majority of patients note that improved coordination of clinical care, ancillary and support
services and finally front line patient care can alleviate feeling of vulnerability. Different
stakeholders should therefore coordinate in the case of Gwen to achieve the best for her. The
third principle of person centered care is information and education (Elwyn et al., 2014). In some
cases, healthcare experts fail to inform patients about their conditions and prognosis. This in
return creates fear among patients and this can cause deterioration of the condition. This
principle therefore ensures that patients are regularly informed about both their clinical status
and prognosis (Morgan & Yoder, 2011). Besides, education equips the patient with necessary
information to make sound decisions and this also enhances autonomy of the patient.
Physical comfort is an important principle of patient centered care. Studies note that
physical comfort reported by patients affects the outcome of care. In the case of Gwen, she does
not feel comfortable engaging in physical exercise. She claims that sitting on the chair and
watching television makes her feel comfortable. That is what a nurse should stick to.
Involvement of family members and friends also play a critical role in healthcare (Kupfer &
Bond, 2012). However, it is unfortunate that Gwen stays alone at home and it therefore becomes
difficult to incorporate either of the two. Other principles of person centered care include
continuity and transition and access to care. Since some patients are concerned about taking care
of themselves once discharged, I am supposed as a nurse, to make Gwen for example understand