Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX8008 Person-Centered Care in Doctoral Practice

Professor Name

Submission Date

Patient Perspective of Person-Centered Collaborative Care

From a patient’s point of view, healthcare can give us valuable insights about the effectiveness of person-centered care (PCC). Patient experience is important in understanding how PCC impacts health outcomes (Ewunetu et al., 2023). The assessment discusses the lived experience of a stroke patient who underwent treatment at Lakeside Rehabilitation Hospital. The insights highlight the transformative impact of individualized care, patient-centered communication, and multi-disciplinary collaboration on the patient’s rehabilitation. The experience of the patient is used as a lens to explore the real-world benefits, challenges, and learning points of delivering care in a way that empowers patients to be active collaborators in their care, not only as consumers of services but also as emotional, personal, and social beings.

Context

The purpose of the reflective interview is for the clinician to gain insight from the patient’s experience to give him/her a deeper understanding of collaborative care as a person-centered approach. The patient who has just recovered from stroke is included in the dialogue in Lakeside Rehabilitation Hospital. The patient shares his or her experience of how coordinated, individual care affected recovery. The patient emphasizes the need to be treated as a whole person, using personalized treatment, shared decision-making, and communication support. Continuous and trusted rehabilitation and healthcare services were achieved by multidisciplinary teamwork between rehabilitation staff, therapists, and support services (Yu et al., 2023). The patient also identifies the need for emotional support, continuity of care during the weekend and improved peer relationships as areas for improvement. The interview offers insights into what person-centred working can do to facilitate recovery and how health and social care professionals can do more to attend to emotional, information and relational needs of patients.

Benefits of the PCC Approach

The patient’s journey at Lakeside Rehabilitation Hospital is a great example of how immediate patient recovery and quality of life benefits from PCC. The insights from the patient shed light on three important advantages of PCC: personalized communication, tailored therapy, and dignity through shared decision-making (Ahmed et al., 2022). These are critical factors to foster trust and empathy with patients.

Individualized Communication

One of the best things about it is the personal interaction. Customizing the communication to the patient’s needs positively affects recovery and self-confidence. The use of visual support, clear language, and early involvement of a speech-language therapist was explained to the patient with a speech impediment and enabled him to be heard and engaged more easily (Yu et al., 2023). This personalized approach to communication helped to reduce frustration and build trust, ensuring that the patient felt understood and that their needs and preferences were taken into account.

Personalized and Motivating Therapy

Another benefit the patient mentioned was the development of therapy sessions around the patient’s interests, such as reading and gardening. The strategy engages the patient in the ordinary exercises and helps them stay motivated and engaged. The approach represents the spirit of PCC by encouraging the patient to be an active participant and by developing care plans that fit patients’ lives, aspirations, and values (Levitan & Schoenbaum, 2021). The identification with care nurtures long-term motivation and emotional strength in recovery.

Respect for Dignity and Shared Decision-Making

Lastly, the patient mentioned that all the stages of care were respected and he/she was treated with dignity. Despite assistance being required, the patient’s autonomy was respected, and choices were listened to in all decisions. This respectful collaboration with the patient during a vulnerable time and the perception of control, which is typically missing in health care environments, is the result of the collaboration (Ahmed et al., 2022). It’s a more humane and promising form of care to treat the recipient as a partner instead of a recipient.

Challenges Encountered by Patients in Active Participation in PCC

Being an engaged patient is a big opportunity and a lot of challenges as an active member of the health care team. Patient-centred collaborative care focuses on the patient in the care plan, on taking into account personal preferences, and on the exchange of information between multidisciplinary teams (Ahmed et al., 2022). Collaborative care fosters respect, empowerment, and trust, and allows patients to be valued and involved in their own healing. At Lakeside Rehabilitation Hospital, PCC was clearly demonstrated in how the care team made the necessary adjustments for the individual after a stroke. For instance, communication interventions were tailored to overcome speech challenges, such as using pictures and simple language, in order to keep the patient active in learning about the treatment regimen. Rehabilitation treatments were tailored to suit individual interests, including the use of ‘gardening therapy’ to increase motivation and emotional healing.

This can be difficult for the patient, too, because he or she is a part of the care team. Medical interventions, especially when the situation is urgent and emotional, create a high-stress situation. Under such circumstances, for patients, it can be challenging to take in information, think of alternatives, or make decisions with confidence (Kayes and Papadimitriou, 2023). Whilst person-centred care is based on shared decision-making, it can be very challenging if it is not supported with adequate emotional support and accessible, timely communication (Klein, 2023). While concerns with the quality of mental health services in the first phase of recovery are not directly associated with poor mental health outcomes, they can negatively affect emotional recovery and autonomy, as experienced by patients. Smooth coordination between departments and specialists is required for the flow of information. The absence of staffing uniformity, such as fewer team members at weekends, may lead to a delay in therapy or to queries going unanswered, impacting the continuity and flow of care (Sharma and Gupta, 2023). Technology may take time to communicate to patients or update patient information, and they may not be sure of progress or what they can expect next. The gaps reduce the patient’s control, which is so vital in person-centered models (Kayes and Papadimitriou, 2023). There may be extra issues when leaving the hospital and when organising for a transition. Make follow-up appointments, arrange home-based therapy, and explain directions or instructions for medication/diet when guidance and support need to be clear. Without proactive planning and education, patients are not ill-prepared or apprehensive, especially when faced with new physical or cognitive challenges. In spite of all the challenges, patient involvement in the care team is still an essential part of high-quality, person-centered care. With the addition of empathy, information availability, and thoughtful coordination, the model can improve health outcomes as well as the overall care experience by caring for the patient holistically, physically, emotionally, and socially (Levitan and Schoenbaum, 2021). The collaborative model can be further strengthened with periodic improvements such as the inclusion of early psychological support, the provision of 24/7 care services every day of the week, and the involvement of peers.

Suggestions for Improving PCC Collaboration

Improving PCC collaboration must be done thoughtfully and mindful of the emotional, as well as logistical aspects of the patient journey. The most crucial recommendation is the early provision of mental health assistance. Patients who experience acute episodes of illness that are life-threatening are often emotionally distressed due to anxiety, confusion, and bereavement at losing autonomy (Boardman and Dave, 2020). Having mental health staff as part of the care team at the outset of treatment can provide emotional stability for the patient that enables them to be more confident in their decision-making and rehabilitation.

In another seven-day cycle of care, consistency can have a significant impact on the patient experience – the provision of care across seven days of the week. Staffing and co-ordinating services interrupt continuity of care, particularly during the weekend or holidays. Maintaining well-staffed departments with good communication, maintaining therapy hours, and minimizing response time can be key factors of the collaborative nature of PCC (Knorring et al., 2020). The gaps can be improved by implementing centralized coordination systems, weekend care, and more shift handovers.

Another important dimension of the PCC partnership is to enable peer support exchanges among patients through group therapy or casual forums where patients with the same condition can connect, provide emotional support, opportunities for mutual learning, and peer motivation. Such interactions can help alleviate loneliness and promote a community spirit, getting patients more involved and empowered in the rehabilitation (Lorenzo et al., 2023). There is also a need for technology to be improved to support collaborative care. If used regularly and made available, patient portals and electronic communication tools can be very helpful. Feedback in real time, in plain language, and using graphical displays can optimize patient understanding and allow for patient participation in care planning (Carini et al., 2021). The use of the tools should be taught during the patient and family orientation/admission process, and this should be done to enable patients and families to take proper care of them.

Personalized treatment plans are also an essential recommendation, taking into account an individual’s goals and interests. The better the therapy activities are matched to the patient’s preferences and daily habits, the more they are likely to participate in them and the better the results will be. When incorporated into clinical guidelines, the strategy can support care teams to screen and incorporate individual preferences when developing the treatment plan (Ahmed et al., 2022). Moreover, involving family members in the care process also enhances collaborative care. Family caregiver education promotes continuity by informing them of the patient’s condition, the recovery process, and the role they can play in the patient’s recovery at home. This strategy leads to better adherence to care plans and to better long-term outcomes.

Future Insights for Leveraging PCC

Watson’s theory of Human caring is consistent with the guidelines of PCC, as experienced in the care episode that was the subject of the rehabilitation at Lakeside Rehabilitation Hospital. Empathy, dignity, and individual treatment create a sense of connection between patient and health worker. Empathic relationships foster trust and encourage patients to be more engaged in their care (Afra et al., 2022). Application of individualized care approaches, like tailoring communication techniques and using personal interests in therapy, besides strengthening patient autonomy, leads to better clinical outcomes and emotional health.

A key component of the success of the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) model is that it encourages multidisciplinary care team collaboration and hastens the goals of PCC. In the planning phase, teams would identify specific areas of care that were not uniform, such as weekend staffing of volunteers, and propose strategies to meet that need. The strategies would be tested in the do stage, such as implementing weekend staffing policies or starting early mental health screening (Abuzied et al., 2023). The study stage involves process measurements of changes in patient feedback and care outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. Finally, at the act stage, effective changes are “encoded” throughout the plant while ineffective changes are modified for the next cycle of improvement.

The model helps to support continuous quality improvement by empowering health care teams to identify barriers, test solutions, and assess the impact on patient engagement and care coordination (Abuzied et al., 2023). For instance, a person’s experience during the weekend and emotional problems suggest that some aspects of the care provided could benefit from a PDSA cycle to identify action points for improvement. Feedback and team reflection cycles can be repeated to refine communication processes, strengthen care continuity and service integration, such as mental health support, among many iterations. It is an organized approach that enables care to be delivered in a coordinated, responsive and satisfying way that meets patients’ changing needs and preferences.

Conclusion

The interview showed how caring for the person was a way of enhancing trust and dignity and promoting active participation in care when the patient is recognized as an equal member of the health care team. The advantages of personalized communication, personalized treatment, and emotional support are clear, but there are also problems such as disintegration of coordination and lack of psychological resources. By putting into practice frameworks such as Watson’s theory of human caring and the PDSA cycle, health systems can improve continually, consolidate patient-provider relationships, and improve outcomes.