Perspectives on the Person-Centered Practice of Healthcare Professionals at an Inpatient Hospital Department: A Descriptive Study

The characteristics of health professionals and their understanding of person-centeredness may have important implications for the development of person-centered practice in specific care settings. In this study, we characterized the perceptions of the person-centered practice of a multidisciplinary team of health professionals working in the internal medicine inpatient unit of a Portuguese hospital. Data were collected using a brief sociodemographic and professional questionnaire and the person-centered practice inventory-staff (PCPI-S), and the effect of different sociodemographic and professional variables on each PCPI-S domain was determined using an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that a person-centered practice was positively perceived in the major constructs of prerequisites (M = 4.12; SD = 0.36), the practice environment (M = 3.50; SD = 0.48), and person-centered process (M = 4.08; SD = 0.62) domains. The highest scored construct was developed interpersonal skills (M = 4.35; SD = 0.47), and the lowest was supportive organization systems (M = 3.08; SD = 0.80). Gender was found to influence the perceptions of knowing self (F(2,75) = 3.67, p = 0.03, partial η(2) = 0.089) and the physical environment (F(2,75) = 3.63, p = 0.03, partial η(2) = 0.088), as was profession on shared decision-making systems (F(2,75) = 5.38, p < 0.01, partial η(2) = 0.125) and commitment to the job (F(2,75) = 5.27, p < 0.01, partial η(2) = 0.123), and the educational level on being professionally competent (F(1,75) = 4.99, p = 0.03, partial η(2) = 0.062) and having commitment to the job (F(2,75) = 4.49, p = 0.04, partial η(2) = 0.056). In addition, the PCPI-S proved to be a reliable instrument for characterizing healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the person-centeredness of care in this context. Identifying personal and professional variables that influence these perceptions could provide a starting point for defining strategies to move practice toward person-centeredness and for monitoring changes in healthcare practice.