Changing Minds: An Introduction to Person-Centered Care

This video is a resource for those wanting to learn more about person-centered care principles or for those wishing to teach others about aspects of person-centered care. In 2013, researchers from Scripps focused on direct care workers and best practices of high performing long-term care organizations in Ohio. (Common Sense for Caring Organizations: Results from a Study of High-Performing Home Care Agencies and Nursing Homes; Straker, J.K., Boehle, S. G., Nelson, I. M., and Fox, E. M.; January 2013; URI: http://hdl.handle. net/2374.MIA/4953). An interesting finding emerged from this research: almost all of the high performing organizations, coincidentally or not, provided person-centered care. Person-centered care seems to benefit care recipients, employees, and organizations overall.

One of the main markers of person-centered care is the knowledge and understanding a worker has for the elder in his or her care. In an industry that has often been focused upon quick and efficient completion of tasks, it may seem unusual for workers to take time for unrushed conversation with an elder. This time of focused conversation is actually an important foundation of person-centered care.

Especially for those who have spent time learning and working in the traditional model of care, person-centered care requires a “re-framing” or a different way of looking at situations. This video was made as a tool to better understand some basic ideas about person-centered care.