When looking back at my younger years I feel I’ve grown tremendously as an individual and to some extent have changed as a person. However, despite all my growths and changes, one trait that has not changed from a young age was my interest in the medical field and my eagerness to always learn more about the body. When I was ill during school (such as the minor flu or common tummy bug), although I felt horrible, I’d look forward to going to the doctor and understanding what the problem was and how it could be fixed. After each doctor visit, I would get a prescription of medication that I needed to collect from our local pharmacy. However, each time I got prescription medication, I’ve noticed something that has recently not changed: prescription medication packaging with the logo “I will remember that I don’t help patient’s, I help people”. Initially, I did not think much of it, in fact I hardly ever noticed it. However, recently, I’ve thought about this logo more often than I initially did, as during third year , I’ve gained more exposure in the clinical practice setting and have worked closely with patients.

Patient-centred care is described as treatment that sees patients as an individual and considers their desires, values, family situations, social circumstances, and lifestyle. In addition, it views patients using health and social services as equal partners in planning, developing, and monitoring care to make sure it meets their needs (Shaller, 2006). During both my paediatric and general blocks, I’ve realized that treating the patient with an aim to complete my ‘to-do list’ and not looking at treating them holistically as individuals, resulted in it being detrimental to the success of the therapy. Shaller 2006, mentions that patient-centred care can have a big impact on the quality of rehabilitation by improving the patient’s experience of care and in turn help them feel more satisfied, encouraging patient’s to be more active in looking after their health, and improving the impact of the patient’s health outcomes.

When treating my patients’ with this patient-centred care attitude, it was evident that the treatment improved from both sides of the table. Patient’s seemed to open up a lot easier and were more cooperative in treatment exercises. Therefore, by incorporating patient-centered care as well as using the above logo ‘I will remember that I don’t help patient’s, I help people’ to ensure that both the health professional and the patients are equal partners in the treatment relationship, a health care worker can view patients as a person with a name and a family and not just as a body harboring pathology with a folder number.

Raadiyah Fortune 3670504

Reference list

Shaller, D. (2006). What Is Patient-Care and Why Is It Important?. Retrieved from https://healthinnovationnetwork.com/system/ckeditor_assets/attachments/41/what_is_person-centred_care_and_why_is_it_important.pdf