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Assessing Health-Related Values: Imperative for Person-Centered Care
Jessica I Goldberg1, Abigail G Cohen, Stephanie McEneaney
1Jessica I. Goldberg is an advanced practice provider and nurse scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, where Abigail G. Cohen is an advanced practice provider, Stephanie McEneaney is a nurse specialist, Margaret Barton-Burke is director of nursing research, and William E. Rosa is assistant attending behavioral scientist. Contact author: Jessica I. Goldberg, goldbej3@mskcc.org. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant P30 (Grant No. CA008748) and the Geri & ME Fund. Rosa is partially supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Abstract:
Person-centered care, a gold standard in serious illness care and palliative care, emphasizes the importance of understanding a patient's personhood and values. Nurses are uniquely suited to provide high-quality, person-centered care and to support patients as they communicate their worries, goals, hopes for the future, and sources of support. By assessing and understanding an individual's health-related values, nurses are better able to complete their nursing responsibilities, advocate for their patients, and confidently encourage shared decision-making. Nurses have strong communication skills but may benefit from additional education to develop the interpersonal skills needed to empathically explore patients' health-related values.
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