Five years ago, a Friday afternoon, my mother called and said she went to the clinic because she was feeling lethargic and the doctors said she was making much more red blood cells than normal and they had to do more testing to rule out renal cancer. Unfortunately, the moment the word cancer comes out, nothing else is heard. My mother and I stayed on the phone for a few minutes longer, but everything else she said remained a mystery because I could not stop hearing the word cancer and I was petrified. To make matters worse, my mother speaks very little English and I could not accompany her to the clinic because it was the end of a semester and I had too many finals. A few days later, I arranged with the school to miss a final exam and accompanied …show more content…
According to Winthrop university hospital, patient and family-centered care gives patients a voice in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of their care which leads to better adherence to the patients’ plan of care (“Winthrop University,”2016). Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City also incorporates the concept of patient and family-centered care in their practice. Children’s mercy hospital define patient and family-centered care based on four key elements which include dignity and respect for patients’ and families’ values and beliefs; information sharing to promote effective participation in health care decisions; encouraging patients and families to participate in decision-making; and collaboration, which incorporates patients, families, healthcare providers along with different departments in the hospital in order to provide the best possible care (“Children's Mercy,” …show more content…
However, the hospitals that are designated for children, such as Children’s Mercy Hospital and Cohen Children’s Hospital have more in-depth explanations of patient and family-centered care. For example, an entire section is dedicated to the importance of patient and family-centered care in these hospitals whereas Winthrop University Hospital only briefly touched the subject.
It is evident that health care practice has drastically changed over years and it is refreshing knowing that patients and families are not treated as subordinates of health care professionals, but instead as human beings with the intellectual capability to participate in decisions that affect their lives (Dokken, Parent, Ahmann, 2015). Patient and family-centered care would be most effective when policies and practices continue to evolve to reinforce collaboration and partnership with