Impact of Family-Centered Care on an Autistic Patient
Overview
This reflection paper examines family-centered care (FCC) through the lens of the author's cousin James, who has autism. The paper explores how collaborative partnerships between family members and healthcare providers facilitate positive health outcomes and create supportive home environments, while identifying challenges in implementing comprehensive family context assessment in nursing practice.
What this reflection paper covers
- Definition of patient-centered care and family-centered care according to the Institute of Medicine and scholarly sources
- Case study of James: a 15-year-old autistic patient benefiting from family involvement in treatment and education
- Analysis of collaboration between family and healthcare providers as a critical success factor
- Discussion of challenges in incorporating family context into nursing practice due to evolving modern family structures
Preview
Impact of Family-Centered Care on an Autistic Patient
Student Name
Program Name or Degree Name (e.g., Master of Science in Nursing), Walden University
COURSE XXX: Title of Course
Instructor Name
Month XX, 202X
Impact of Family-Centered Care (FCC) on an Autistic Patient
According to the Institute of Medicine, patient-centered care is health care that respects and responds to individual patient values, needs, and preferences. On the other hand, family-centered care involves a partnership between a family and a care provider in making health care decisions (Kokorelias et al., 2019). The purpose of the two types of care is to ensure that the patient and the patient’s family are involved in the care decisions from the start. This was the case for James.[1] My cousin suffers from autism.
The family had arranged schedules with the local physician where all the family members could attend some treatment sessions. These sessions aimed to treat and manage James’ condition and educate the family on better care for him at home and in social functions or places like school. James is 15 years old, happy, social, and leads a normal. The family does an excellent job of caring for James because they understand his condition. Therefore, James is a beneficiary of family-centered care.
A critical aspect that played a central role in James’ case was the collaboration between family members and the healthcare provider. The collaboration was vital in the positive health outcomes related to autism that James has experienced so far.