The Importance of Providing Person-Centered Care

The Importance of Providing Person-Centered Care

Person-centered care or personalized care is a buzz word that one often hears when it comes to services for seniors. Assisted Livings, Nursing homes, Memory Care neighborhoods, and Retirement communities love to say they have person-centered care. But what is Person-centered Care really? What does it look like, and where can it be found? The answers may surprise you.

Person-centered care is a way of giving care that honors the individual who is receiving the care.

It speaks to who that person is, their abilities, unique preferences, experiences, and life history, and uses these things to guide how care is given. The first step on the path to Person-centered Care is getting to know the “person.” Initially this can be done by asking the person or their family questions that cover their history, preferences, etc. This information should be included in any care plan and communicated with the team that is serving the person.

Person-centered care at its best is relationship based.

Getting to know the individual and forming a relationship builds trust between the individual and caregiver and makes receiving care more comfortable. When you know someone well, you know what their baseline looks like. It’s easy to spot when someone’s gait, or manner of walking, has changed when you know how they usually walk. When we are able to recognize changes early, we can quickly get the elder the help they need from: a doctor, a psychiatrist, a physical therapist, or other provider before the issue becomes a bigger problem.

Person-centered Care is not a to-do list, but a way of delivering care that centers around the person.

Since Person-centered care is care that is given based on the individual’s preferences, it can be found in almost any environment. It can take place in assisted livings, day programs, nursing homes, and even your own home. If an elder’s needs are being met in a way that you would choose for yourself, chances are, their caregivers are using person-centered care.

Ideally everyone who delivers care is part of the person-centered care plan.

An activities assistant can more effectively help an individual that she is familiar with if she also knows their preferences and history. She can invite the individual to come to certain activities that she knows will appeal to them. In dining for example, it is important to know what time someone has had breakfast their whole life and try to honor that. There are many other ways to give person-centered care in the dining room. Giving options for food and beverages, knowing dietary restrictions, and knowing what sort of assistance an individual needs are just a few of the ways one can continue giving person-centered care.

One of the places person-centered care is most important is with any hands on, daily care.

If someone helps to get an elder ready in the morning, it is important that they know if the individual is an early bird or night owl and honor that preference. When we wake up is such a personal choice and a choice that is often lost when there is a caregiver involved.

That being said, it is so important to provide care based on the individual’s needs/desires and not based on a to-do list. Choices should be offered throughout giving care when considering what outfit to wear, what temperature the bath water is adjusted to, whether the elder would like to wear any make up or jewelry today, and in other areas that affect their day.

The whole process of giving care should be a conversation with the staff member asking permission before doing things such as helping someone undress, pushing their wheelchair, or adjusting their glasses. Person-centered care doesn’t end there. Every team member can participate. Even a concierge or housekeeper can know the individual and can meet their needs in an individual way.

Oftentimes, people are reluctant to get the help they so desperately need in their home or go to any sort of facility such as a retirement community, assisted living, or nursing home in part because they believe they will lose some of the autonomy they have enjoyed their entire lives.

Person-centered care supports the individual where they need it with their preferences in mind and empowers them to be independent where they can.   

— Amanda Schnellenberger

Senior Care Manager