Patient-Family Centered Care

Patient-centered care is a widely understood term for health professionals dictating that patients are the sole focus of our healthcare -- not bills, treatments, colleagues, supervisors, etc.
There is little dispute of this type of care as of course the patient should be the center of their own healthcare. It is also implied that the family is included in patient-centered care. However, too often the family is left out of critical decisions and patient health updates. This can be crucial because often times family members are the best source of information about the patient -- particularly if providers are dealing with younger or older patients.
The phrase then should be altered to include "family." Patient-Family Centered Care sends a stronger message that the family needs to be heavily involved in not only the decision-making, but also the investigation of the patient's illness. Family members stay right beside the patient in the hospital more than any other health care provider. They carefully observe every nurse, physician, student, and chaplain that comes in and out of the room. They watch every step of the treatment with extreme scrutiny. They may even know better than the patient themselves exactly what is going on. For these reasons, it would be wise to heed the advice that a close family member might give to the medical providers. In fact, even when advice is not given, they should be consulted frequently. Health care providers must remember that the patient is not the only person affected by their treatment or outcome. There may be several other people that will be heavily affected by the decisions made -- whether good or bad. Therefore, we ought to include them in the Patient-Family Centered Care.