[Excerpts]
INTRODUCION
Providing patient-centered care is the first of eight priorities for the B.C. health system as articulated the Ministry of Health’s strategic plan, Setting Priorities for the B.C. Health System (February 2014). Under the strategic plan, the province will strive to deliver health care as a service built around the individual, not the provider and administration. This is not an overnight change, but a promise of a sustained focus that will drive policy, service design, training, service delivery, and service accountability systems.

What is patient-centered care?
Patient-centered care puts patients at the forefront of their health and care, ensures they retain control over their own choices, helps them make informed decisions and supports a partnership between individuals, families, and health care services providers. Patient-centered care incorporates the following key components:
– self-management
– shared and informed decision-making
– an enhanced experience of health care
– improved information and understanding, and
– the advancement of prevention and health promotion activities

Patient-Centered Care Practices
Four patient-centered care practices are presented in this framework to help guide health care organizations in the pursuit of patient-centered care.
1. Organization Wide Engagement
Support for patient-centered care principles should be demonstrated by an organization’s leadership through both words and actions. At the same time, health care providers should demonstrate support for patient-centered care principles at the patient care level, pushing up in a true partnership with leadership.

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