Moving Forward: Implementing Patient-Centered Care in Hospitals

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1157

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Social Sciences, Achva Academic College, Arugot 7980400, Israel
Interests: patient-centered care; telemedicine; heath policies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In a world with increasing life expectancy, rising levels of chronic illness, a growing aging population, and austerity in public hospitals, health promotion must increasingly rely on a strategy that benefits all stakeholders, from patients and clinicians to health systems alike. In this Special Issue, I propose a focus on patient-centered care strategy. This strategy is in line with my values of holistically viewing each individual patient as having preferences, expectations, and feelings that should guide clinical care, rather than having it be guided by the economic constraints of hospitals, hegemony of physicians within the hierarchical structure of a hospital, or a disease residing in the body.

Translating this strategy into work processes in hospitals will allow patients to take responsibility for their health, and will yield benefits such as higher adherence, improved clinical outcomes, improved patient experiences, fewer re-hospitalizations, lower rates of health service consumption, lower costs, and higher levels of satisfaction among physicians and nurses together with the realization of their occupational mission.

Given the benefits of this patient-centered strategy, it is no wonder that most public hospitals in the world strive to achieve patient-centered care. Nevertheless, various barriers to its full achievement remain present, and knowledge on how to implement the patient-centered strategy in practice is scant, particularly in the chaotic hospital environments.

Therefore, the aim of this Special issue is to demonstrate how barriers to the implementation of PCC can be removed and how the removal of barriers will result in benefits all stakeholders, patients, clinicians and hospitals, promoting overall health.

In this Special Issue, original research articles; quantitative, qualitative, intervention studies; and reviews are welcome, in particular those that focus on chronic care, treatment, morbidity and mortality, long term outcomes for groups of patients, critical care, emergency, and intensive care in hospitals. I am pleased to invite you to submit your manuscripts for this Special Issue.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Strategies to implement PCC with inpatients;
  • The promotion of person-centered care and PCC;
  • Integrated PCC;
  • Health innovations and health informatics to promote PCC;
  • Design thinking in the context of PCC;
  • Revising work methods to promote PCC.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Gillie Gabay
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • health promotion
  • hospitals
  • implementation
  • health innovations
  • health informatics
  • patient-centered care
  • person-centered care

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 618 KiB  
Article
Integrating Case Management in Cystic Fibrosis Units: A Key to Enhancing Patient-Centered Care
by Alessandra Russo Krauss, Andrea Lastrucci, Valentina Petrini, Nicola Gualtieri, Renzo Ricci, Matteo Tomaiuolo, Daniele Giansanti, Alessandro Bartoloni and Silvia Bresci
Healthcare 2025, 13(9), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13090965 - 22 Apr 2025
Viewed by 157
Abstract
Introduction: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic genetic disease affecting the respiratory and digestive systems. Multidisciplinary care is vital for managing CF’s complex complications. This study investigates the potential role of a Case Manager (CM) in improving care coordination and patient outcomes [...] Read more.
Introduction: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic genetic disease affecting the respiratory and digestive systems. Multidisciplinary care is vital for managing CF’s complex complications. This study investigates the potential role of a Case Manager (CM) in improving care coordination and patient outcomes at the CF Unit of Careggi University Hospital. Methods: A survey among 34 CF Unit healthcare professionals assessed the perceptions of integrating a CM. The survey included demographic questions and 12 Likert scale items on the CM’s role in care continuity, team collaboration, and treatment adherence. Responses were collected anonymously and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The response rate was 100%, with strong support for the CM role, averaging 4.5/5 across Likert scales. Respondents highlighted the CM’s value in coordinating care, managing time-sensitive tasks, and improving communication with external care providers. Telemedicine was positively rated, particularly for reducing hospital visits and supporting the remote monitoring of CF patients treated. Discussion: Findings indicate that integrating a CM could enhance multidisciplinary CF care by improving communication and treatment adherence. Challenges, including team readiness and training, were noted. Future studies will focus on patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes following the integration of CM, with special attention to the role of telemedicine in CF care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Moving Forward: Implementing Patient-Centered Care in Hospitals)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 758 KiB  
Article
A Novel Strategy for Understanding What Patients Value Most in Informed Consent Before Surgery
by Gillie Gabay, Attila Gere, Glenn Zemel and Howard Moskowitz
Healthcare 2025, 13(5), 534; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13050534 - 28 Feb 2025
Viewed by 525
Abstract
Background/Objectives: To map and analyze patient expectations regarding communication in IC and identify communication that both heightens anxiety in the IC process and reduces anxiety in the IC process before surgery. Methods: Ethics approval was granted. A power analysis indicated a [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: To map and analyze patient expectations regarding communication in IC and identify communication that both heightens anxiety in the IC process and reduces anxiety in the IC process before surgery. Methods: Ethics approval was granted. A power analysis indicated a required sample of 90 patients. A conjoint-based experimental design was performed, post-discharge, overcoming typical biases of surveys. Results: The sample comprised 104 patients who underwent surgery in the last year. Three verbal communication messages were perceived as significantly decreasing pre-operative anxiety for the total sample. Mathematical clustering yielded three distinct mindsets. Post hoc ANOVA indices indicated that the mindsets were significantly different. Patients belonging to each mindset differed from patients belonging to other mindsets in their expectations from the dialogue with surgeons to mitigate their anxiety. Mindset 1 (70% of the sample) comprised patients who expected information that was tailored to their specific situation. To feel safer, they needed to know that nothing unexpected would happen. Mindset 2 (13%) comprised patients who expected providers to talk with them about benefits and risks at the clinic, not at the hospital, and have a dialogue with them. Mindset 3 (17%) comprised patients who perceived a lack of information regarding the purpose of signing the informed consent and lack of sufficient time to thoroughly read the form or signing the form minutes before the procedure as elements that would heighten their anxiety. Conclusions: Three verbal communication messages in the IC dialogue were thought to decrease pre-operative anxiety for all patients, as follows. “I want to make sure you read and understand the consent form entirely” “Everything is provided in clear and simple terms”. The surgeon says, “Let’s go over the entire form”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Moving Forward: Implementing Patient-Centered Care in Hospitals)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop