Patient And Family Centered Care Essay

Family to me is just as important as treating the patient. The family of the patient is an extension of the patient themselves so creating a trust and equal partnership between the healthcare provider and the family is crucial. So far clinical experience with families has been excellent. Sense clinicals have started for me here at Marshall. We have been in a Covid epidemic so I have not had lots of patient family interactions because of safety protocol. To me at the end of the day families are a blessing, sometimes they can be a bit of a curse but that is only because they want the best for their loved one who is sick and they want them to receive the best care possible. All families  

Although I have not had a ton of interactions with patients' families, one of my positive memories was with the nicest man you will ever meet and his wife. The two of them were so kind and were so happy that I was there and giving them such great care. Who knew that just giving someone in the hospital such basic needs like giving them a bed bath, combing their hair, and simply brushing their teeth would turn patients and their families' day around for the better? The way that she looked at him after I got him all cleaned up was the true look of love in her eyes. Afterward it put the biggest smile on my face because they were sharing with me their love story and how they were high school sweethearts and have just been madly in love ever since. Looking at love like that just makes my day and makes me excited that one day that will be the love I have with someone. 

Even though I have had more positive versus negative clinical experiences with families, I have my fair share of negative experiences. One that is very memorable was a mother and her autistic son. Throughout the entire clinical she was so nasty and yelling at me for everything that I did whether it was what she wanted or not. The nurses even felt so bad she was coming in with me while I provided care to her son. I was cool and collected the entire time that I was, but it comes very frustrating when everything you are doing is wrong to the family even when it is correct. I did learn though after that, both the parent and I have the best goal in mind so working together will benefit the patient rather than make the situation worse by having the mother get mad at me which only makes the patient upset.  

Benefits of family-centered care are related to increased therapeutic success. Whether it is from increased competence, confidence, and satisfaction of patients and family or an increased follow-through when the care plan is developed.