Florence Nightingale Patient Centered Care

For over a century the improvement of health care has been championed by individuals and groups from Florence Nightingale to The Institute of Medicine (IOM). In the time of Ms. Nightingale, cleanliness and nutrition became the focus of improvement. Now, in the twenty and twenty-first century, the IOM has established guidelines and practices that bring the greatest balance between patient centered care and organized medicine since the early days of reform. Utilizing science to identify practices that produce measurable and quantifiable for the patient, six fundamental values called Aims, were developed to create a safe, effective, accessible healthcare system. Theses Aims state that Health Care must be safe, effective, patient centered,

timely, efficient, and equitable. Through publications and other methods, the IOM introduces the Aims to health care systems around the world.
The Aims can be examined more closely, one by one.
The first Aim declares that health care must be safe. Bed sores, medication errors, and other harm that befell patients was considered an acceptable repercussion of health care. The injuries acquired during treatment often lead to life long suffering or death. Many people avoided medical care for that reason. Health institutions identify safety risks in the organization, they set a goal to reduce the errors by a percentage over a timeframe, policies are set and practices are implemented. The IOM website gives this example of a safety goal, “Reduce adverse drug events (ADEs) in critical care by 75 percent within 1 year.” Providing a safe environment demonstrates true caring for the patient and their families.
The second Aim declares that health care must be effective. It prescribes using science to guide treatment choices and care decisions. This is the use of evidence based practices. Effective treatments are well documented making accessing the information reasonable. The use of ineffective practices that provide no benefit should decrease. Successful outcomes that are beneficial should increase.
The third Aim declares that health care must be patient centered. First, Honoring the individual, their needs, cultural awareness, and other such sensitivities. Secondly, respecting the choices that individual makes concerning their care