Taking Stock of Person-Centered Care Practices

Person-centered care is being gradually implemented throughout U.S. nursing homes, although progress has been slow and much more work still needs to be done, a paper published in the latest issue of Generations argues.

PHI National Director of Coaching & Consulting Services Susan Misiorski and PHI Organizational Change Consultant Anna Ortigara co-wrote the article with Christine Mueller of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing.

In it, the three authors briefly explain the intertwined histories of culture change and person-centered care, and detail the numerous organizational and governmental initiatives to promote the person-centered care movements over the last two decades.

The article uses survey data from 62 nurses, some of whom work at traditional nursing homes, some of whom work for facilities that were built specifically with culture-change values in mind.

Nurses working in the latter type of facility were generally more likely to report that they performed culture-change practices and competencies than were those in more traditional homes.

However, the authors write, “many barriers continue to impede the role of the nurse in person-directed care.

“Without appropriate training, new person-directed practices, such as natural wake-up times and choices around dining, may be viewed by nurses simply as a new way to complete a care task, rather than a significant shift of power and influence to the residents,” they continue.

The paper is part of the Spring 2016 issue of Generations, the official journal of the American Society on Aging.

Guest-edited by former PHI President Steven Dawson and Christopher Langston, the former program director at The John A. Hartford Foundation, the issue is devoted entirely to confronting the many issues facing the eldercare workforce.

Dawson and Langston spoke about the issue’s themes in a recent interview with PHI.