Listening to Patients Changes Clinicians ‘Perspectives and Improves Care

Abstract

This article shares strategies of an academic medical center and its system of hospitals in partnering with patients and families to create a climate in which patients, families, and clinicians are comfortable enough to ask questions, suggest alternatives, and even choose to disagree. Relationship-Based Care: A Model for Transforming Practice (Koloroutis, 2004) was instrumental in developing an interdisciplinary relationship-based model of care supported by 4 key processes (admission interview, daily rounds, discharge planning, and follow-up phone calls). These processes—along with patient/family councils, patient/family/staff retreats, patient/family representation on hospital committees, and a patient experience bundle—have proven successful in aligning patient and family expectations with clinicians ‘care delivery, as reflected in Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. A study suggesting the nature of caring as a nurse-driven activity may vary from caring as a patient-driven activity. Inspired engagement with Koloroutis and Trout (2012) See Me as A Person: Creating Therapeutic Relationships with Patients and Their Families; attun-ement, wondering, following, and holding build bridges between clinicians perceptions and knowledge, and patients knowledge and expectations.