My Patient Experience Improvement pearls are sent to a healthcare organization administrative leadership, clinical leadership, frontline clinical staff and ancillary staff.   The purpose of the pearls is to continue to provide Healthcare Providers with tools and techniques to effectively communicate with patients and their families.  The pearls are sent out on Sundays, via email, twice a month.

Today, in the sixteenth iteration of my bimonthly Pearls,  I discussed the definition of Patient Centered Care.

Excerpt:
A culturally competent provider must be adept at patient-centered care, including being aware of the role of cultural health beliefs and practices in a person’s health-seeking behavior and being able to negotiate treatment options appropriately and in a culturally sensitive way.

• Every encounter is a cross-cultural encounter in health care. Principles of patient-centered care should be applied with every patient, not just those belonging to minority groups or a group different from that of the provider.
• Patient-centeredness tends to take a holistic approach and emphasizes the cultural and social influences on a person’s health and health beliefs.

Reference: https://cccm.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov