Raising the Bar: Aligning Culture and Patient-Centered Care

The Dartmouth Symposium on Health Care Delivery Science brings together forward-thinking health care leaders who are tackling the real and persistent issues around delivering high-value health care. This book includes the proceedings from the 2017 Symposium, which took place in Long Island, NY from April 6-7, 2017.


The 2017 Symposium focuses on “Raising the Bar” to provide an exceptional patient experience. How do we build and sustain a culture that supports patient-centered care?


The Institute of Medicine has defined patient-centered care 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.”

 

Across the delivery spectrum, health care providers and institutions aspire to provide patient-centered care but fail to consistently achieve their goal. As constituencies ranging from patients to policymakers raise the stakes, demanding better value, greater transparency, increased responsiveness to individual values and preferences, and demonstrable quality, organizational culture plays a vital role in promoting (or impeding) progress toward these goals. Systemic cultural change may be the key to raising the bar.

 

Invited participants, along with students, faculty and alumni of Dartmouth College’s Master of Health Care Delivery Science program, discussed the shift from a culture of aspiration to one of implementation in which values, incentives, and communications are aligned to produce patient-centered care.


This book includes video recordings and written summaries of each session, and video interviews with attendees capturing their reflections on the topic of Raising the Bar: Aligning Culture and Patient-Centered Care.