Importance Of Patient Centred Care

1042 Words3 Pages

This essay will explain what patient centred care is, how nurses use it in practice, the benefits of using it, and the barriers that need to be overcome to able to use it, and the key principles of patient centred care. It will explain how patient centred care enables nurses to communicate and engage with the patients in a more effective way, and how it helps understand the uniqueness of each patient, which helps professionals avoid ‘warehousing’ patients (treating them all the same). It will also demonstrate how this type of care can help maintain the dignity of patients when nurses carry out tasks such as personal care. The Health Foundation describes patient centred care as being a type of health system where patients take control of their An example of this in adult nursing could be in a hospital, during personal care. If a patient is unable to complete their own personal care and hygiene due to physical difficulties, such as if they have suffered a stroke in the past, nurses will help them to complete the care. Respect is used by the nurses when carrying out this task by ensuring they are speaking kindly to the patient, ensuring they feel comfortable, and by receiving permission before performing any task. By gaining the patients permission, they will feel that they have a higher level of control of the care, will feel more respected, and they will begin to develop a trusting relationship with the nurses. Protecting a patients dignity means to respect their privacy, allow them to have control over their own decisions, and to not undermine them at any point. Patients dignity can be protected by nurses by ensuring they only carry out personal care when it is needed, and if possible, have the nurse completing the task be the same gender of the patient. This may make them feel more comfortable and less embarrassed. Dignity and respect for patients is important in adult nursing because without it, it dehumanises them, and creates opportunities for abuse and ill treatment to occur. Lack of dignity and respect can also cause emotional problems for patients, as they are already in a vulnerable state. Lack of respect and dignity

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