Meeting the Challenge of a More Person-Centered Future for us Healthcare

Abstract

Person-centered care is a burgeoning social movement and a mission statement for modern healthcare. However, it is not a new idea. Often called the father of modern medicine, William Osler said, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”1 Social movements typically begin with common issues brought forward by an affected group whose members share a common interest in a cause. Health-based social movements (HSMs) such as the women's health movement and breast cancer activism have significantly impacted health and social policy.2 The movement toward person-centeredness grew from a number of narrow interest-based activists to a more general movement for healthcare reform from objections to both medicalization and medical paternalism, and the demands for increased autonomy and choice which arose from the cultural and political shifts of the 1960s.3 In addition, the increasing prevalence of long-term chronic conditions has led to the necessity of new mod...