Advocating a person-centered care approach to drug safety

Abstract

Person-centered care constitutes a rational and ethical framework to improve patient health outcomes including drug safety. Yet the term ‘person-centered care’ is riddled with various interpretations within the healthcare literature. In its narrowest form, the term focuses on the patient, and occasionally their families, as consumers of medications prescribed by healthcare professionals (HCPs). This interpretation of the patient’s role however does not recognize the importance of power relationships and the impact of patient values on preventing and addressing adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Healthcare professionals on the other hand, are expected to ‘work’ with the patients’ beliefs, through an understanding of their perspectives and the meanings that they assign to their experiences. [Excerpt from the Introduction]