Strengthening patient and family engagement in healthcare - The New Haven Recommendations.

Objective: Present and discuss the development and basic structure of a multilevel approach to strengthen patient and family engaged care, "The New Haven Recommendations on partnering with patients, families and citizens to enhance performance and quality in health promoting hospitals and health services".

Methods: A generic literature review was conducted followed by a Delphi procedure to prepare the New Haven Recommendations. From systems theory perspective, three conceptual levels are used to map action areas to enhance patient and family engaged care.

Compassion as the foundation of patient-centered care: the importance of compassion in action.

The Institute of Medicine defines patient-centered care as "providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions." What is missing in this definition is an explicit emphasis on compassion. This perspective article draws on the experience of Planetree (CT, USA), a not-for-profit organization that partners with healthcare establishments to drive adoption of patient-centered care principles and practices by connecting healthcare professionals with the voices and perspectives of the patients and family members who utilize their services.

Holistic Care in the US Military I-The Epidaurus Project: An Initiative in Holistic Medicine for the Military Health System, 2001-2012.

This article describes the history and findings of the Epidaurus Project, a Uniformed Services University-affiliated project to bring holistic care and evidence-based design into the Military Health System (MHS). A distinguished group of civilian thought leaders contributed. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process offered a chance to implement the Epidaurus agenda.

Putting patients first: patient-centered care: more than the sum of its parts.

This is the seventh and last in a series of articles from Planetree, an international non profit organization founded in 1978 that's "committed to improving medical care from the patient's perspective." For more information, go to www.planetree.

Putting patients first: Partnering with patients' families.

This is the sixth in a series of articles from Planetree, an international nonprofit organization founded in 1978 that's "committed to improving medical care from the patient's perspective." For more information, go to www.planetree.

Patient-centred care: more than the sum of its parts--Planetree's patient-centred hospital designation programme.

When a nurse at the Celilo Cancer Center at the Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, Oregon, found out that his patient was scheduled to receive chemotherapy on her wedding anniversary, he asked the woman and her husband what song they'd first danced to on their wedding day. It was "Save the Last Dance For Me," and the next day, when the couple rose from their chairs after the patient's six-hour infusion, the song began playing. Right there in the infusion area, with their arms around each other, they danced.

Open medical records.

This is the third in a series of articles from Planetree, an international nonprofit organization founded in 1978 that's "committed to improving medical care from the patient's perspective." For more information, go to www.planetree.

Building the business case for patient-centered care.

Hospitals that provide patient-centered care reap a number of financial benefits, including: Reduced length of stay. Lower cost per case. Decreased adverse events.