Patient- and Family-Centered Care: Partnerships for Quality and Safety

Abstract

Patient- and family-centered care is an approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among health care providers, patients, and families. It redefines the relationships in health care. Patient- and family-centered care also offers a framework within which to begin examining policies, programs, and practices and for hospitals, ambulatory practices, and agencies that choose to do so, to begin on a journey to transform organizational health care culture.