Family-centered care

Family-centered care is a healthcare approach that is based on a mutually beneficial partnership between families and healthcare professionals. This approach aims to help families be actively involved in a patient's treatment plan through shared decision-making. This type of care can be helpful for patients of all ages. It promotes trust, communication, and the sharing of information about the patient's condition in an open and objective way so families and healthcare workers can collaborate to meet the needs of the patient. Family-centered care acknowledges family as a constant in the patient's life and honors the ethical, cultural, and socioeconomic values of all families as they deal with a serious illness or chronic condition.

Overview

Family-centered care was advanced and promoted by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), which is one of six bureaus within the Health Resources and Service Administration, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The goal of family-centered care is to achieve the highest quality services and support for both patients and their families. This is accomplished by following the core concepts of family-centered care: information sharing, collaboration, participation, and dignity and respect.

In family-centered care, healthcare professionals gather as much information as possible about the family's resources and needs so they can assess the best way to collaborate while navigating the healthcare system. The healthcare staff gathers much of this information from questionnaires, discussions with the doctors involved in the patient's care, and in-depth interviews with the patient's family members. Healthcare providers also must give patients and their families as much information as possible about their disease/condition and all available treatment options. This allows the patient and family to make the best possible decisions regarding care.

Collaboration and participation are also key in this type of care. Healthcare professionals and family members make decisions together, and there must be collaboration and participation on both sides so they can determine and implement solutions that are in the best interest of the patient. Collaboration and participation from everyone involved result in a higher level of trust as well.

Respect and dignity are central in family-centered care. This method recognizes that each family and situation is unique and that cultural values, life experiences, socioeconomic, status and ethical beliefs must be acknowledged, with increasing emphasis on health equity and inclusion, as part of the partnership formed between health care professionals and family members. This means that healthcare staff will listen to the concerns of the patient and the family and attempt to honor their decisions throughout the treatment process.

Family-centered care aims to empower families to work as a team with healthcare professionals to provide the best care possible for their loved ones. Some of the benefits of family-centered care include decreased anxiety of family members and the patient, accelerated recovery times, and increased family confidence in the healthcare system. It also improves the mental health status of both patients and their family members during treatment.

Bibliography

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