Patient- and Family-Oriented Pediatric Surgical Care

Abstract

Patient and family-oriented care is a healthcare approach that influences policies, programs, facility design, and everyday interactions among patients, families, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. Although a consensus of its definition has not been met, there is significant agreement on the general principles of (1) open and objective information sharing, (2) cultural competence, (3) partnership and collaboration including joint decision-making, (4) negotiation and flexibility while upholding medically appropriate decisions, and (5) incorporation of families at all levels of care, including personal encounters, program development, and professional education and resuscitation and end-of-life decisions. Surgeons should not take on the daunting task of providing quality patient and family-oriented care alone but should unite with fellow multidisciplinary team members to achieve optimal health and healing for the patient. Therapeutic play, a capacity of child life curricula, utilizes age-appropriate activities to allow self-expression, provide distraction during treatments, and establish a near-normal environment to decrease the anxiety of pediatric patients. The trajectory of parents’ stories, hopes, confidences, and grief rest on these twin pillars: competence and compassion.