Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice

Editors: Brendan McCormack, Tanya McCance, Cathy Bulley, Donna Brown, Ailsa McMillan and Suzanne Martin

Oxford: John Wiley and Sons

When the right team comes together, the results are magical! This is exactly what happened when the authors of Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice united to write this book. Each contributing author interposes theoretical and practice expertise, all adding to the value and wisdom this work has to offer.

The book sets out to guide us towards a shared understanding and a common language for person-centredness. The lens of the Person-centred Practice Framework offers an insight into its application in a number of areas of health and social care practice, while reminding us that all persons are ever changing. We are invited to remain open to change and to challenge ourselves and our beliefs as we embark on a journey into person-centred healthcare practice.

As that journey begins, we are directed to explore various concepts, from what it means to be a person to the values of person-centredness, knowing self and flourishing as humans. Being person-centred requires a commitment to communicating clearly, navigating systems, appreciating contexts and engaging while being sympathetically present. The delineation of  concepts in this book prepares us to explore chapters covering person-centredness in settings such as rehabilitation, long-term care, mental health and maternity services. The book is a call to action guided by approaches to learning and development that include active and reflective learning and critical thinking, alongside the strategies needed to create person-centred learning cultures.

This article by Erna Snelgrove-Clarke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.