The patient-centered care is defined by the Institute of Medicine as “Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions” (IOM, 2001). I had an opportunity to exercise this kind of care during my nursing practice. I was assigned to provide care and support to an elderly Muslim patient who needed help with managing rheumatism. Knowing the Islamic traditions might require a personalized approach, I made sure to explain all of the implications of the treatments and elaborate the possible effects of medication. There were no problems with the personal values of the patient, but the principles of patient-centered care required me to take other factors into account as well.

I made sure to provide emotional support by talking to him during treatments to ensure that he does not feel lonely or uncomfortable. I educated the patient on the ways of applying various medicine including injections. It allowed me to integrate his family into treatment since he was able to explain to his sons how to help him with the medical routine. That has allowed the man to spend less time at the clinic and communicate with his family more. Finally, I have taken the needs expressed by the patient into account informing the doctor about various complaints and wishes expressed by the patient. For example, I made sure to ask the physician to prescribe appropriate painkillers after the man complained about the persistent pain in his shoulder. He felt it was too insignificant to bother the doctor, and I decided to help him. Overall, I feel like I was able to deliver patient-centered care in accordance to all of the basic principles of that practice.

Issues of Accreditation

The accreditation of nursing schools is required to ensure the appropriate standards of education which satisfy not only the minimal requirements set by the government but also demands dictated by the realities of the modern healthcare system. It also assures the consistent standards of education across the country which are not affected by the political decisions made in separate states. However, consistency does not mean all schools should be identical to each other. The accreditation should account for the diverse demands of the nursing jobs and various local realities which affect the education facilities. Collins (1997) writes that the agencies focus on “quality, performance outcomes, and identification of practice knowledge and content which are consistent across programs,” during evaluation. They aim to make sure that the nursing schools give their students all the necessary skills, and the education process is efficient.

The accreditation process involves report, meetings, reviews, and even changes to the program when they are needed. It is difficult and can take up to two years. The agencies handling the evaluation process are quasi-governmental. They are privately owned organizations established by the government and entrusted with the responsibilities traditionally handled by the state. That means that the accreditation agencies are held accountable by the politicians, but can act independently. That gives them a great degree of freedom in handling their duties compared to the politically motivated governmental organizations. However, that also raises the issue of accountability. Such organizations often find themselves linked to the certain politicians who have promoted their foundation, and the political views of the nongovernmental owners of the agencies can also prevent them from acting impartially (Kosar, 2011).

References

Collins, M.S. (1997). Issues of Accreditation: A Dean’s Perspective. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 2(3). Web.

IOM. (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm a New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Kosar, K.R. (2011). The Quasi Government: Hybrid Organizations with Both Government and Private Sector Legal Characteristics. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service.