Enhancing patient-provider relationships with a whole person oriented healing pathway model

Area of Science:

• Healthcare research
• Medical sociology
• Patient outcomes

Background:

• Healthcare is increasingly complex and consumer-driven.
• A need exists to understand provider characteristics that foster patient healing.
• Existing models may not fully capture the interpersonal dynamics of healing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify provider characteristics that facilitate a healing pathway model across medical specialties.
• To explore the experiences of healthcare providers in facilitating patient healing.
• To develop a conceptual model for leveraging patient-provider relationships to enhance healing.

Main Methods:

• Phenomenological, prospective descriptive study design.
• In-depth semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews with 52 diverse healthcare providers.
• Thematic content analysis within a healing pathway model framework.

Main Results:

• Three primary healing domains were identified: Provider Approach for Facilitating Healing, Foundations of a Healing Pathway, and Observation of Healing Outcomes.
• Emergent constructs across disciplines highlight an interpersonal approach to healing.
• Data were collected from diverse conventional and complementary and integrative health (CIH) settings.

Conclusions:

• Interpersonal approaches and provider characteristics are crucial for facilitating healing in modern healthcare.
• The developed healing pathway model offers insights into intervening and optimizing patient-provider relationships.
• Understanding these dynamics can inform strategies to enhance patient healing outcomes.