Family-centered care: facing the new millennium. Interview by Elizabeth Ahmann

In an interview with the column editor, Beverley Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Family-Centered Care, shares her views on the state of family-centered care (see Table 1). A notable achievement over the past several decades has been the acknowledgment of family-centered care as the standard of care for children with special health care needs. Today there is a growing momentum to more broadly apply the principles of family-centered care in both pediatric and adult care settings, and much work needs to be done to build on the strong foundation that has been laid. Changing attitudes and practice, changing how families are viewed and how care is provided, developing collaborative approaches, and emphasizing the importance of relationships--changing in these ways the very culture of health care--will be necessary to make family-centered care a full reality. Many of these changes need to begin during the process of educating medical and nursing students. Health care institutions can support these changes by incorporating principles of family-centered care into personnel policies and practices, ensuring the hiring and support of individuals with family-centered skills and attitudes, and rewarding family-centered practice. Many of these changes can also be supported by research on the relationships between family-centered care and health care utilization, lengths of stay, and health care outcomes. The interview concludes as follows: "What is good for families and patients is often good for the health care system as well. Family-centered care is a winning proposition for all concerned."