How many of you have that one patient that refuses to follow the advice you give at every visit? The more you talk to them the more they refuse to do what is needed to have a healthier life.
Within the PCMH model, the Care Planning and Self-Care Support will help that patient see the importance of living a healthier life, instead of just having to take your word for it. This model will see where the patient is currently and use goals to empower patients to get them feeling better about their health.
Is it easy? No, empowering patients is very challenging. Research shows that patients often abandon self-care earlier than they need to, typically seeking the advice of a doctor within a period of 4-7 days. This is due to lack of confidence in understanding the normal progress of their symptoms. However, when they actually see their improvements they stay committed to self-care.
Here are some tips to encourage Care Planning of Self-Care:
- Recognize that care planning and self-care are effective strategies for acute and chronic illnesses.
- Agree that the advice of the care team in your practice will be given when asked about common self-limiting illnesses including support for self-care.
- Involve the practice care team, pharmacy, and community resources for giving the same advice and support for self-care.
- Ensure consistency, best practice and fairness – consider POSITIVE guidance.
- Use reviews of conditions to inform and educate your patients, family members, and/or caregivers on the aims of management, choices to make in managing the patient’s condition, and responses to changes in their condition (including relapses).
- Patient Participation Group or similar services can be helpful to design, plan, and get feedback on your initiatives in care planning and self-care support.
- Use your practice website, phone messaging, emails, displays in waiting room/entrance area/consulting rooms, etc. to offer high quality care planning and self-care support information.
- Consider using shared decision-making consultations to empower all of your patients.
- Consider using a form and progress chart created by the practice to help guide what the patient is needing for care panning and self-care support.
Care Planning and Self-Care support may mean extra time supporting patients, whether it is to help them self-treat their common ailments or self-manage their long-term conditions; however, successful care planning and self-care often results in a reduction of unnecessary appointments making better use of your practice’s resources and health of your patient.
Empowering patients with the confidence and information to practice self-care when they can and visit the practice only when they need to gives people greater control of their own health and encourages healthy behaviors.