Person centered care (PCC) is a process that “moves decision-making directly to the individual despite frailty, cognitive impairment or the location in which services are provided” according to the Institute for Person Centered Care, University of Buffalo.
Deeper dive
Person-centered care differs from patient-centered care – which is visit-based – because person-centered care is based on accumulated knowledge of the entire care team, including family caregivers. This forms the foundation for better recognition of health problems and needs over time and facilitates appropriate care for these needs in the context of other needs.
This approach sees the person as an individual, rather than as a collection of symptoms and behaviors to be controlled. It considers the whole person, taking into account each individual’s unique qualities, abilities, interests, preferences and needs.
Person-centered care focuses not just on treatment for the person’s illness or condition, but on:
- the person’s strengths, rather than their limitations
- the person’s interests—what’s important to them
- activities that are truly meaningful to them
- close and continuous contact with others (real relationships), and
- the rewards of being interdependent, not dependent.
It also takes into account a person’s preferences for such things as:
- when and what they eat
- when they want to sleep and bathe
- what they want to wear
- what they want to do with their time, and
- their end of life (to be hospitalized or not, for example, or to receive treatment such as CPR, intubation, or a feeding tube).