Nursing homework help
“Originally coined by Balint in 1969 to express the belief that each patient “has to be understood as a unique human-being,”1 patient-centered medicine began as a descriptive account of how physicians should interact and communicate with patients” (Saha, S., Beach, M. C., & Cooper, L. A., 2008). You should always try to understand each patient’s individual viewpoint. This allows for a more custom treatment plan and health promotion methods with personal variations. This is a more holistic approach to traditional medicine and illness prevention. This also gives the patient the empowerment to take control of their treatment and gain a higher level of understanding for their disease processes and/or health risks. For example, a Hispanic woman who has recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Not only would you have to consider her heritage and lifestyle choices, you would need to examine her socioeconomic status, literacy level, perception of health risks, access to health care and view on said health care. All of these items and more would need to be considered to come up with education, resources, treatment plan and follow-up.
“The Picker-Commonwealth Program for Patient-Centered Care was begun in 1987 to promote a patient-centered approach to hospital and health services focusing on the patient’s needs and concerns. Seven dimensions of patient-centered care were identified: 1) respect for patients’ values, preferences and expressed needs; 2) coordination and integration of care; 3) information, communication and education; 4) physical comfort; 5) emotional support and alleviation of fear and anxiety; 6) involvement of friends and family; and 7) transition and continuity.7 The Picker-Commonwealth Program clearly went beyond the more narrow interpretation of patient centeredness as a guide for individual practitioners interacting with individual patients, and moved towards the consideration of patient centeredness as a comprehensive way of delivering health services” (Saha, S., Beach, M. C., & Cooper, L. A., 2008). At the facility I work for we provide every patient with the Patient Bill of Rights and it is my duty that they fully understand these rights. I find that many patients have no idea of how much say they really have in regards to their health care and the type of treatment they receive. I find that this explanation to the patient is invaluable.
“Additionally, viewing patients as members of ethnic or cultural groups, rather than as individuals with unique experiences and perspectives, might lead providers to stereotype patients and make inappropriate assumptions about their beliefs and behaviors. To account for these concerns, approaches to cross-cultural healthcare incorporated a balance, between acquiring some background knowledge of the specific cultural groups encountered in clinical practice, and developing attitudes and skills that were not specific to any particular culture but were universally relevant… — these “generic” attitudes and skills included: 1) respecting the legitimacy of patients’ health beliefs and recognizing their role in effective healthcare delivery; 2) shifting from a paradigm of viewing patients’ complaints as stemming from a disease occurring within their organ systems to that of an illness occurring within a biopsy-chosocial context; 3) eliciting patients’ explanations of the illness and its perceived causes (patient’s explanatory model of illness); 4) explaining the clinician’s understanding of the illness and its perceived causes (clinician’s explanatory model of illness) in language accessible to patients; and 5) negotiating an understanding within which a safe, effective and mutually agreeable treatment plan could be implemented. Essentially, this individualized approach entailed clinicians’ seeing the illness experience through patients’ eyes, helping patients to see the process through the clinicians’ eyes and reaching common ground” (Saha, S., Beach, M. C., & Cooper, L. A., 2008). I agree that a person’s culture and ethnic background should be considered but the person must be seen as an individual with unique needs and concerns. This goes back once again to a holistic approach to health care. We must treat the whole person not just the disease process, heritage, race, sex, or cultural background. These things must all come together for a comprehensive plan for the individual.
References
Saha, S., Beach, M. C., & Cooper, L. A. (2008). Patient Centeredness, Cultural Competence and Healthcare Quality. Journal of the National Medical Association, 100(11), 1275–1285.
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