Embracing holistic hearing healthcare
As THE success model of the last decade in healthcare, family-centered care has all the potential to bring hearing healthcare to a completely new level.
Family-centered care is a buzz word in modern healthcare. It’s holistic, integrated and even more, centered on the patient and his or her family.
But what exactly is the concept of family-centered care about? And, what potential does it hold for your daily hearing healthcare practice?
Family-centered care is a treatment shift in hearing healthcare that puts greater emphasis on the vital role that family or significant others play for the patient. The patient and his or her family are considered as partners in the planning, execution and monitoring of the treatment.
I strongly believe in the potential of family-centered care, so when Phonak convened a select group of hearing healthcare experts to provide evidence-based recommendations on how to better engage family members, I was enthusiastic to join. During our research, we have learned that, if implemented right, family-centered care offers many benefits for all parties involved in hearing care.
For the patient, this approach results in increased ownership over all things happening during rehabilitation, higher satisfaction with the provided healthcare services, and superior audiologic outcomes. For the family, they experience a greater awareness of the effect of hearing impairment, less third-party disability, and improved relationship quality.
You might ask, “What`s in it for me as a hearing care professional?” Well, research has shown numerous benefits for you as a clinician—including improved patient-provider relationship, greater treatment adherence, and fewer malpractice claims. It’s not surprising that clinicians also tend to report higher job satisfaction and a higher rate of hearing aid uptake when using this approach. Our evidence has shown that with family-centered care, it’s a win-win-win for all parties involved!
Interested in learning more on the FCC concept and how to implement it into your daily practice? You can read our Family-Centered Care Position Paper here.
If you have already introduced family-centered care into your practice, I would love to hear from you. Please share your experiences in the comments section below.
