Involving patients and representatives in care decisions

Involving patients in their care isn’t just polite, it’s a CMS requirement. Condition of Participation (CoP) §482.13(b)(2) says that patients have the right to make informed choices about their care and be involved in crafting their care plan. And CoP §482.13(a)(1) requires hospitals to take reasonable steps to decide who the patient’s designated surrogate is when the patient is unable to make the decision.

According to CMS, patients have the right to make informed choices about their care and be involved in crafting their care plan. Diana Topjian, a patient safety coach with Studer Group, says that when talking to patients about their care plan, it must be clear that they understand the risks and benefits of agreeing or declining to the treatment regimen.

“It’s incumbent upon us as providers to ensure we present the plan of care in such a way that the patient (and/or family) understand and clearly can follow the information we used in reaching those decisions,” Topjian says.

“I believe that this is a two-part process,” adds Erin Shipley, RN, MSN, a patient safety coach with Studer Group. “Not only continuing to involve the patient and family as much as possible in the planning around their plan of care and any preferences that they have, but also assessing for any changes to these wishes, and deliberate teach-back with the patient, to ensure that the knowledge and information taught and shared has been retained.  This also helps improve the engagement of the patient to understand any perceived or actual barriers the patient and family has with following the plan developed.”  

Editor’s note: you can read more about this in Briefings on Accreditation and Quality.