Running head: PATIENT-CENTERED

Patient-Centered Care:
Definition and Exhibit
Jack L. Kaczmarczyk
Baker College

Definition of Patient-Centered Care

Nurses, writing in journals and speaking in the field, do not routinely define patientcentered care (PCC) according to the definition offered by the American Nurses Association
(ANA), the quotation of which would exhaust the reader and deplete much-needed space. Suffice
it to say, terminology bogs down the ANAs description. Forman, writing in Nursing Leadership
for Patient-centered Care (2011) would go farther, calling it so much jargon that is hard to read,
a mouthful to say, and difficult to apply, (p. xxi). In the pursuit of rarefied abstraction,
universally applicable to every manifestation of a multifaceted profession, the ANAs definition
has done a disservice to both nursing and patients alike. Yes, the ANA has distinguished the role
of the RN from that of the doctor or the unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP), but in doing so,
the real and concrete service that nurses provide every day to their patients has been lost in
intellectualization. Therefore, Forman has demanded a redefinition, one that is clearer to

PATIENT-CENTERED

understand by practitioners and society alike (2011). In that vein, and introducing the topic of the
present essay, this author introduces a simplerperhaps even faciledefinition of PCC. Nurses
take care of people.
To elaborate, a concrete illustration of PCC is needed. This requires nothing more erudite
than the example of an RN listening to a patients complaints. The patient has been in the same
gown all day and states that he feels not too clean. The RN then, in full possession of every
power collated under a nursing license, decides that the patient cannot wait for the UAP for a bed
bath. The RN then gives the bed bath.
In performing this seemingly mundane and humble act, the RN has surmounted a myriad
of obstacles which prevent others in the profession from achieving the goal of PCC. Instead of
asking the question, How can we best benefit the patient in the fastest way? healthcare workers
sometimes ask, Where is the co-worker whose job it is to do this? The focus shifts from taking
care of the patient to taking care of business, or managing the ways and means used to
accomplish PCC. Necessary supplies are missing. Pharmacy must be called. The surgeon is not
responding to repeated pages. There is a UAP shortage due to budget cuts. Transportation is too
busy and the patient must be moved to radiology. Face-time is supplanted by screen-time in
filling out redundant paperwork. Proliferating regulations which change daily only encourage
nurses to become hypervigilantnot in protecting patients, but in protecting their own license.
The latest union battle becomes fresh grist for the gossip mill (Forman, 2011). These obstacles
share a common theme: communication breakdown. This informs an essential principle of PCC:
effective communication.
Increasingly, the role of nurses is trending away from the acute setting and toward
primary care, which aims to circumvent disease progression (Hunt, 2013). Nowhere is effective
communication more important than in primary care. With the passage of the Affordable Care
Act and the subsequent coverage of preventative care, a great opportunity is afforded to nurses to

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become the difference between a patient developing a disease or getting healthier. Accomplishing
this task would drastically reduce the incidence of the leading preventable causes of death, like
chronic diseases, which, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state, affect half of all
adults (2014). To do this, nurses must supply the knowledge and resources for patient healthimprovement, using models like teach-back. Nurses also work with patients to alter detrimental
behaviors, which is considered to be a core skill of PCC (Gardner, 2014). Notice how little the
literature emphasizes the importance of technical skills, or the importance of abstract theoretical
principles, when it comes to accomplishing PCC. Clearly, the link between good PCC and
effective communication is direct.
Therefore, at the risk of bogging down the authors previously stated definition of
patient-centered care, it nonetheless requires an addendum. Nurses take care of people, despite
obstacles which are natural to the healthcare environment, using effective communication that is
collaborative and therapeutic, in order to circumvent the progression of disease.

References

PATIENT-CENTERED
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014). CDC - Chronic Disease - Overview.
Retrieved 17 May 2014, from
http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm?s_cid=ostltsdyk_govd_203
Forman, H. (2011). Nursing Leadership for Patient-centered Care : Authenticity, Presence,
Intuition, Expertise. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Gardner, D. B. (2014). Walking the Talk for Patient-Centered Care: An Interview with Eileen
O'Grady, Wellness Coach. Nursing Economic$, 32(2), 99-100.
Hunt, R. (2013). Introduction to community-based nursing (5th ed.). Philadelphia:
Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.