The Importance of Patient Care
Updated: August 18, 2025
There is no overstating the importance of patient-centered care. This has a considerable impact not only on how patients feel, but also on whether they trust healthcare providers and their willingness to engage in their own care. These benefits coalesce to drive major improvements in patient outcomes and even in community health.
The benefits are considerable, but it takes a concerted effort to center patients amid overarching healthcare challenges. Ultimately, this effort is worthwhile, as we will explain through this deep dive into the advantages of patient-centered care in healthcare.
What Is Patient-Centered Care?
The concept of patient-centered care can initially be confusing. Shouldn’t patient-centered care be the standard for all patients? This seems intuitive, yet many healthcare facilities and providers have been accused of prioritizing efficiency or profitability over providing the tailored and personable care that patients deserve.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) explains that, in patient-centered care, each individual’s “specific health needs and desired health outcomes” drive “all health care decisions and quality measurements,” allowing patients to partner with providers.[1]
Experts at NEJM add that this model is not exclusively clinical; it offers a holistic approach that also addresses care from an “emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspective.”
Importance of Patient Care
Healthcare and patient care are not the same thing. Healthcare encompasses the broad systems, services, and policies that aim to improve health outcomes on a large scale. Patient care, however, focuses on the individual, revealing how direct care can help specific patients manage health conditions while improving their overall quality of life.
So, why is patient care important in healthcare? Simply put, this is how healthcare systems achieve their broader goals. Each individual success story involving patient care contributes to the big picture of public health.
Delivered correctly, patient-centered care can lead to wide-scale improvements in health outcomes. This ultimately makes healthcare systems more effective while helping to fulfill overarching missions or objectives.[2]
Improved Health Outcomes and Quality
A growing body of research shows that patient-centered care can have a positive outcome on many markers of health and wellness, influencing numerous aspects of patients’ experiences in clinical settings and beyond.
In musculoskeletal rehabilitation, for example, patient-centered care is thought to help bring relief to those with chronic pain, supporting today’s biopsychosocial models of care.[3] Meanwhile, in a cross-sectional study of over 5,000 patients, the patient-centered approach produced major improvements in self-reported physical health.[4]
Greater Patient Satisfaction and Co-Creation of Care
Many elements shape patient satisfaction, but this tends to be higher when patients feel that they are respected and that they have a say in their care.[5] Patient-centered care touches on both essentials, giving patients the autonomy they crave.
This is further enhanced through co-creation 鈥� a deeply collaborative approach in which patients work with family members, providers, and other loved ones or resources to contribute to the big picture of patient care actively.
Key Principles of Patient Care
Patient-centered care can look different across various settings or scenarios, but always rests on a few core philosophies:
Mutual Respect and Dignity
Respect is at the heart of patient-centered care. Ideally, patients and healthcare professionals will show unwavering respect for one another, avoiding condescension and instead showing admiration for both patients’ and providers’ wisdom. This paves the path to a more collaborative take on healthcare, as explored below.
Transparent, Two-Way Communication
Open communication plays a central role in determining whether care actually qualifies as patient-centered. This calls for full transparency, allowing patients to know all relevant details about their diagnoses or treatment plans.
Shared Decision-Making
Shared decision-making (SDM) brings a collaborative approach to patient-centered care, revealing the value of empowering patients to take charge of their health and well-being.[6] This model expands upon the previously discussed value of mutual respect, suggesting that healthcare professionals respect their patients enough to grant them a say in their treatment.
This begins with sharing evidence-based details about patients’ conditions and treatment options while also encouraging patients to share their unique concerns or preferences. Following mutual deliberation, patients should feel fully capable of making informed decisions while feeling like active participants in their own care.
Family Inclusion and Emotional Support
Family members and other loved ones can play a huge role in facilitating patients’ recoveries or shaping their long-term health. For this reason, patient-centered care (and especially person-centered care) aims to integrate families to at least some degree, encouraging loved ones to share their perspectives.
This approach also aims to equip loved ones with caretaking skills so they can continue to support patients long after they’ve departed the clinical environment.
Does Patient-Centered Care Have Any Effect on Health Outcomes?
Research indicates that patient-centered care can have a profound impact on patient perceptions, empowering patients as they navigate the healthcare system. This can translate to positive health outcomes, but that’s only the beginning. Advantages linked to patient-centered care include:
Stronger Provider Morale
Healthcare professionals face many challenges and emotional difficulties in their day-to-day lives. Through patient-centered care, they come to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with their patients. This can make their work feel more fulfilling, which can ultimately increase overall morale.[7]
Workforce morale and well-being are closely linked to patient health outcomes, so any effort to empower healthcare professionals will translate to tangible benefits among patients.[8]
Emotional Comfort and Reduced Anxiety
Many patients feel stressed and anxious at the mere thought of attending healthcare appointments or navigating procedures. Patient-centered care ensures that these individuals are approached with compassion, with healthcare professionals encouraged to take extra steps to help patients feel at ease. This could be as simple as offering a warm, cozy blanket or adjusting lighting levels.
Lower Rates of Unnecessary Care
Not all healthcare services are needed in all situations. Excessive care can be detrimental, heightening patient anxiety, exposing them to needless risks, and imposing undue financial strain.
In the previously mentioned cross-sectional study, patient-centered care delivered not only self-reported improvements in physical outcomes, but also dramatic reductions in “physician-influenced unnecessary behaviors,” such as the use of unneeded or outside prescriptions.
What Can I Do to Improve Patient Care?
Many strategies shape patient-centered care, which calls for a layered approach that may change slightly from one patient to the next. Individual strategies for elevating patient-centered care include:
Practice Active Listening
Active listening makes patients feel heard and valued. This holistic approach to communication doesn’t simply focus on what patients say. It also emphasizes non-verbal cues such as eye contact and body language. Healthcare professionals can practice active listening by carefully observing for any contrast between what patients say and how they behave.
Build Rapport With Empathy and Reassurance
Empathy is central to patient-centered care. This enables healthcare professionals to fully understand what patients are experiencing in any given moment and why they may be experiencing difficult thoughts or emotions. Through compassion, healthcare professionals use empathy to drive action, taking steps to help patients feel more comfortable or confident based on the concerns they’ve expressed.
Promote Patient Participation
Patients feel more confident in their care when they get the chance to become active participants. There are many ways to accomplish this, but open communication is always essential. Once patients feel informed, they feel empowered to make decisions that reflect their unique preferences or priorities.
This may involve patient-driven recovery or lifestyle goals, accompanied by self-monitoring techniques and decision aids that help patients make health choices that align with their values.
Engage Patients and Families
Patients look not only to providers for emotional and practical support, but also to loved ones like partners or family members. This is where the related ethos of person-centered care comes into play.[9]
Similar to patient-centered care, person-centered care brings an even more holistic approach to the forefront, integrating family and significant others into the care process while recognizing the role that their support networks and personal circumstances play in their overall health.
Healthcare professionals can practice person-centered care by actively listening to family members’ concerns, just as they would for patients. Similarly, they can describe health conditions and treatment options in clear, easy-to-understand language. They may teach loved ones care skills or refer them to support services. Also important is drawing on their in-depth understanding of family dynamics when developing treatment plans.
Focus on Trusted Relationships
Building rapport and ultimately trust between patients and providers requires time, effort, and intentionality. Without continuity, however, patients may struggle to gain this much-needed element of trust. Patient-centered models acknowledge that patients may feel more comfortable with certain professionals.
To that end, patients may enjoy considerable control over which providers they interact with. Due to the variable nature of trust, this model also emphasizes coordination, ensuring that patients consistently feel valued, even when multiple professionals ultimately deliver their care.
Leverage Interdisciplinary Rounds
Interdisciplinary rounds bring together professionals from many specialties, drawing on their diverse expertise to ensure that the full range of patients’ physical and emotional needs are fully addressed. These well-rounded teams may encompass physicians, nurses, physical therapists, or even social workers.[10]
Advocate for Patients
Patients deeply appreciate healthcare professionals who act as powerful advocates. This begins with actively listening to patients to ensure their perspectives are fully understood. While specific solutions may not always be within a given healthcare worker’s scope of practice, they can bring issues to light, ensuring those with the proper expertise promptly address them.
Discover the Secrets Behind Patient-Centered Care
Among the many ways to advance healthcare patient care stands out, providing a tangible way for you to positively impact patients and entire communities. By centering patients, you can make a meaningful difference.
At 黑料不打烊’s School of Nursing, we introduce patient-centered concepts in our Vocational and Practical Nursing and bridge programs, also integrating this model into advanced coursework from our Associate Degree in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs. Discover more today to make a positive impact in nursing and healthcare.
Sources:
[1] New England Journal of Medicine. “What Is Patient-Centered Care?”
[2] Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Person-Centered Care.”
[3] Hutting, N. et al. “Patient-centered care in musculoskeletal practice: Key elements to support clinicians to focus on the person.” Musculoskeletal Science and Practice.
[4] Chenhao, Y. et al. “More patient-centered care, better healthcare: the association between patient-centered care and healthcare outcomes in inpatients.” Frontiers in Public Health.
[5] Kuipers, S. et al. “The importance of patient-centered care and co-creation of care for satisfaction with care and physical and social well-being of patients with multi-morbidity in the primary care setting.” BMC Health Services Research.
[6] Kunneman, M. “Shared decision-making to design care that fits for each patient.” Nature Reviews Disease Primers.
[7] Pryor, S. “Nurse Well-Being and Patient-Specific Outcomes.” Nursing Care Quality.
[8] Sabitova, A. et al. “Job morale: a scoping review of how the concept developed and is used in healthcare research.” BMC Public Health.
[9] American Association of Colleges of Nursing. “Domain 2: Person-Centered Care.”
[10] Baek, H. et al. “Nursing teamwork is essential in promoting patient-centered care: a cross-sectional study.” BMC Nursing.
