Person- and Family-Centred Care

Recommendation 1.1: Establish a therapeutic relationship with the person using verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to build a genuine, trusting, and respectful partnership.

Recommendation 1.2: Build empowering relationships with the person to promote the person’s proactive and meaningful engagement as an active partner in their health care.

Recommendation 1.3: Listen and seek insight into the whole person to gain an understanding of the meaning of health to the person and to learn their preferences for care.

Recommendation 1.4: Document information obtained on the meaning and experience of health to the person using the person’s own words.

Recommendation 2.1: Develop a plan of care in partnership with the person that is meaningful to the person within the context of their life.

Recommendation 2.2: Engage with the person in a participatory model of decision making, respecting the person’s right to choose the preferred interventions for their health, by: 

1. Collaborating with the person to identify their priorities and goals for health care; 
2. Sharing information to promote an understanding of available options for health care so the person can make an informed decision; and 
3. Respecting the person as an expert on themselves and their life.

Recommendation 3.1: Personalize the delivery of care and services to ensure care is not driven from the perspective of the health-care provider and organization, by collaborating with the person on: 

1. Elements of care; 
2. Roles and responsibilities in the delivery of care; and 
3. Communication strategies.

Recommendation 3.2: Partner with the person to tailor strategies for self-management of care that are based on the person’s characteristics and preferences for learning.

Recommendation 4.1: Obtain feedback from the person to determine the person’s satisfaction with care and whether the care delivered was person and family-centred.

Recommendation 5.1: Educate health-care providers at a minimum on the following attributes of person- and family-centred care to improve the person’s clinical outcomes and satisfaction with care: 

1. Empowerment; 
2. Communication; and 
3. Shared decision making.

Recommendation 5.2: Educational institutions incorporate this Guideline into the curricula for nurses and, as appropriate, for other health-care providers.

Recommendation 6.1: Create an organizational culture that exemplifies its commitment to person- and family-centred care by: 

1. Demonstrating leadership and commitment to this approach to care; 
2. Involving the person in co-designing health programs and services; and 
3. Building healthy work environments for all health-care providers.

Recommendation 6.2: Design an environment that demonstrably improves the person’s experience of health care by: 

1. Creating healing environments; 
2. Being flexible and partnering to personalize care routines; 
3. Improving access to care and services; 
4. Enhancing the continuity and coordination of care and services during transitions; and 
5. Providing continuity of caregivers.

Recommendation 6.3: Collect continuous feedback from the person to determine whether their experience with health care and services was person- and family-centred, and utilize this feedback to make improvements at all levels of the health system.

Recommendation 6.4: Government agencies and regulatory bodies must monitor, measure, and utilize information from organizations regarding the person’s experience of health care to improve health-system performance.