What is person-centred care and why does it matter?
In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on person-centred care, which involves listening to what the patient says as well as offering them medical guidance⁽¹⁾. The aim is to treat the person and not just the disease.
Identifying the cause of the wound is essential to enable early intervention with the right care for each patient. This requires a holistic assessment of the patient, not just the wound.
Objectives of person-centred diagnosis⁽²⁾:
• To determine the cause of the wound
• To identify potential barriers to healing
• To establish the patient’s expectations and goals of treatment
• To explore the possibility of self or shared care
• To gather information with which to prioritise treatment objectives and identify patient management options
• To decide whether there is a need to get specialist advice or refer the patient
DID YOU KNOW?
10 reasons why health professionals should communicate effectively with patients⁽³⁾
- Foster trust between the health professional and the patient
- Create a medical file, so an accurate history can be established
- identify the patient’s expectations and goals of treatment
- Focus on enhancing the patient’s quality of life
- Provide psychosocial support for the patient and their family
- Foster active participation in treatment plans
- Promote patient autonomy and independence
- improve patient concordance with treatment
- Empower patient to make life-long behaviour changes
- Reduce healing times and recurrence
1. Augustin M, Carville K, Clark M. International consensus: optimising wellbeing in people living with a wound. 2012. Wounds International. https://tinyurl.com/y3n86zon (accessed 1 February 2020)
2. Bianchi J, Flanagan M, King B. 3D: a framework to improve care for patients with leg ulcers. Implementing person-centred diagnosis, evidence-based treatment decisions and inclusive dialogue with the 3D framework. J Wound Care 2020; 29 (11 Suppl a):S1–S66
3. Green J, Jester R, McKinley R, Pooler A. The impact of chronic venous leg ulcers: a systematic review. J Wound Care. 2014; 23(12): 601–12. https://doi.org/10.12968/jowc.2014.23.12.601