October is Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month

October 14, 2022

Patient-centered care is more than hospitality. It is more than amenities and inviting surroundings. Patient-centered care creates positive impressions and satisfying experiences, but beyond that, it improves lives. It improves health outcomes and unites communities around health and wellness.

Research has shown that when patients and their families are engaged in their own care team, they:

• Make more informed decisions
• Are more likely to adopt healthy behaviors
• Report more positive patient experiences
• Achieve better health outcomes

By supporting hospitals in the quest to provide high quality, safe, fiscally responsible, and patient-centric care, HAP has become a recognized leader in the move toward enhanced patient engagement in health care. A HAP Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) provides a platform for Pennsylvania hospitals to network, learn, and problem solve together in order to enhance hospitals’ patient and family engagement (PFE) efforts.

Hospital staff, providers, patients, and family members are encouraged to celebrate Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month by working together to create a health care culture that has the expectation of patients as full members of the health care team. Suggestions for being part of the celebration include:

• Visit the HAP website to access a series of tools and resources designed to help hospitals put the patient at the center of health care
• Access HAP’s Person and Family Engagement Resource Guide

In addition, join the HAP PFAC to include your voice in efforts to provide patient-centric care to Pennsylvania health care consumers by contacting PFE project manager, Janette Bisbee, MSN, RN-BC, CPXP, NHA.