Patient-centred care: more than the sum of its parts--Planetree's patient-centred hospital designation programme

When a nurse at the Celilo Cancer Center at the Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, Oregon, found out that his patient was scheduled to receive chemotherapy on her wedding anniversary, he asked the woman and her husband what song they'd first danced to on their wedding day. It was "Save the Last Dance For Me," and the next day, when the couple rose from their chairs after the patient's six-hour infusion, the song began playing. Right there in the infusion area, with their arms around each other, they danced. This story illustrates the kind of care that has become the norm at the 10 hospitals in North America recognized since 2007 as patient-centred hospitals by Planetree's Patient-Centred Hospital Designation Program. At these hospitals "patient-centred care" is more than a buzzword. Rather, it's reflected in their mission statements, strategic plans, models of nursing care, and day-to-day operations. While many organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and Planetree, have endeavored to define patient-centred care, no definition conveys its essence as well as the patients at these hospitals can. "This place has a special character," one patient said in a focus group. Others have said, "You can tell the nurses here care about you as a person," "They are a special breed of people here," and "I don't think it's just a job for them; they're here for a reason." Over the past year, this series, Putting Patients First, has explored several aspects of the patient-centered approach--encouraging patients to review their medical records, lifting restrictions on family involvement in care, and lowering noise levels in hospitals, among others. We believe they show that, ultimately, patient-centered care is more than the sum of its parts.