Developing a tool to facilitate person-centered care in a university hospital in collaboration with patients and healthcare professionals

Person-centered care (PCC) aims to treat patients as full persons and provide care that fits patients’ contexts, needs, and wishes. This healthcare approach views patients as active partners, emphasizing patient engagement. PCC is increasingly recognized as a factor in improving healthcare and patient health outcomes, yet, structurally putting PCC into practice in the clinical encounter remains challenging. Cocreation improves usability, feasibility and uptake of tools for intended users. We developed a tool in cocreation with patients and healthcare professionals to support PCC in clinical encounters. The development consisted of three phases. Firstly, existing evidence was elicited via two scoping reviews. Secondly, we cocreated a prototype PCC tool with patients and healthcare professionals based on meetings and interviews. Thirdly, we conducted tryouts with the prototype of the PCC tool in the rehabilitation, neuro-oncology, and pediatric departments of a university hospital to test its potential for facilitating PCC and suitability for larger-scale implementation and for a wide variety of patients. The tryouts were evaluated via interviews with patients and healthcare professionals, which we analyzed using thematic analysis. A content analysis of the information filled out in the prototype of the PCC tool was conducted. Cocreation with stakeholders resulted in the development of the PCC tool comprising a digital five-item questionnaire, called ‘We would like to know you’, to support PCC in a hospital setting. Patients fill out the questionnaire voluntarily in the patient portal before the consultation. Health care professionals (HCP) read the answers in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and touch upon the questionnaire during the clinical encounter to initiate a partnership. For patients, the questionnaire turned out to be useful to share their preferences, needs and expectations. For HCP the information shared in this questionnaire appeared to provide a good starting point to provide PCC. The collaboration with patients and HCP throughout the entire process resulted in a tool that suits users and fits into daily practice in a hospital setting. The three step approach of Hawkins et al. provides a practical way to develop and test a tool to support PCC in clinical encounters.