3 Pathways to Patient-Centered Care

A new report highlights the ways hospitals can identify and address sources of "avoidable suffering" and ultimately improve the patient experience.

Press Ganey's 2014 Strategic Insights report, "Reducing Suffering: The Path to Patient-Centered Care," presents three levels of analytics that improve patient care and increase engagement. To achieve patient-centered care, hospitals can no longer just focus on treating patients' illnesses, according to the report. Instead, they must also address patient suffering, which involves treating the physical side effects of illness as well as mental ones, such as fear, anxiety, confusion and frustration.

Providers must take steps to eliminate a patient's avoidable suffering, which is associated with healthcare dysfunction, such as a misdiagnosis or a delayed diagnosis, according to the report. But they also must attempt to mitigate inherent suffering that is associated with a treatment or diagnosis, such as postoperative pain or loss of function.

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Source: Firece Healthcare