Patient Family Centered Care & Patient Engagement

My husband asked me yesterday about patient engagement.  He said “All this time you’ve been talking about patient family centered care, but lately you mention patient engagement much more.  What’s the difference?”  I explained it this way:  patient family centered care is the noun, patient engagement is the verb.

The framework for patient engagement are the core concepts of patient family centered care.  The values of respect, collaboration, strength based communication and empowerment remain constant.  Establishing partnerships between patients and their providers based in these core values will ensure patients have a solid foundation, an invitation if you will, to become authentically, actively engaged in their care and in organizational improvement.

Patient engagement is a strategy for improvement from the bedside to the boardroom. Patient engagement is  dynamic, always changing, shifting and recreating in response to changes in the healthcare environment.  As we establish mechanisms to engage patients in their care and in the health system,  it will be important to build in flexibility, recognizing the dynamic nature of these partnerships.  Patient goals and preferences change with time, new information and shifting priorities in a person’s life.  Providing an opportunity for patients and their families to inform healthcare of these changing needs and values on an on going basis is a critical component of authentic engagement.

Patient engagement is patient family centered care in action.