Wouldn’t it be ideal if a team of health professionals came together with a person and their family to actively collaborate and design the best treatment care plan based on the person’s needs, wishes, and goals?
If you or a loved one has been in a healthcare setting recently, you may have experienced the traditional model of care delivery. The one where the doctors and nurses tell you what’s going to happen, you follow their instructions, and you go along with the prescribed treatment and care plan. While this approach has been the norm for decades, a new model is emerging that is poised to revolutionize healthcare: co-created care.
So, what exactly is co-created care? At its core, it’s a collaborative partnership between the person receiving care, their support system, and the entire care team. It recognizes that each human is the ultimate expert on their body, values, goals, and preferences.
In this model, the clinical team still provides their medical expertise, but they treat the person at the center as an equal partner whose voice and input shapes every aspect of their care journey.
This comprehensive approach offers maximum versatility in that it can be applied in care facilities, hospitals, and especially home settings.
Not only does co-created care reduce health complications and hospital readmissions, but it also leads to happier, healthier patients and nurses. One study in the Journal of Ethics revealed an 85% reduction in serious safety events and a 62% reduction in hospital-acquired infections, resulting from co-creation in care.
Let’s explore the importance and benefits of this philosophy.
Co-Created Care Movement & Its Benefits
Co-created care goes beyond the typical care model approach built on limited patient involvement, and top-down communication with a provider-centric focus.
Instead, it’s about building relationships, fostering open communication, and providing education — which is especially crucial given up to 50% of patients aren’t engaged enough to successfully understand and follow their care plans.
Navi Nurses is blazing a trail in the industry, championing this enhanced patient-centered care philosophy to guarantee clients and families have a voice that’s not just heard, but truly valued.
For the person receiving co-created care, it looks and feels entirely different than traditional healthcare. From the very first interaction, clients of Navi Nurses are asked about their needs, values, and desired outcomes. The nurses take the time to truly listen and understand the whole person — not just their medical condition. And together, a customized care plan is co-created that aligns with what matters most to the client and their family.
We understand that co-created care yields a number of benefits. Multiple evidence-based studies demonstrate how this healthcare philosophy, rooted in strong nurse-patient relationships, improves the physical and social well-being of clients.
A recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) revealed that co-creation outcomes in individuals included an increase in energy, simply feeling better, and blood pressure returning to normal levels.
Another scientific study focusing on co-creation in care demonstrated that clients’ physical and social well-being improved over time, as a result of the collaborative approach.
Co-created care also is hugely valuable for family members and loved ones. They get a voice in a process that will impact their lives, as well. Their role as caregivers is elevated, and they develop a deeper understanding of how to best support their loved one in the ways they can. The entire experience is demystified and centered around the person and family’s unique needs.
Navi Nurses Puts Co-Created Care in Action
Navi Nurses successfully implements co-created care for all clients, including those recovering from surgery, wanting to age-in-place, requiring end-of-life care, or dealing with other complex health needs. Take a look at how Navi’s network of registered nurses (RNs) carries out co-created care in each of these instances.
Post-Surgery
Co-created care prior to surgery can greatly benefit a person’s post-operative experience and recovery in several important ways. This allows for an individualized post-op plan that is focused on what matters most in terms of recovery priorities, pain management approach, rehabilitation timeline and more.
Together, a private duty nurse, the client, and the client’s family will co-create a care plan that includes an extensive post-surgery checklist. This includes the family’s prioritization of helping make their loved one comfortable, entertained, and rested, while the RN also addresses these needs and tends to the client’s medical needs as well — checking vitals, pain management, advocacy, and wound care at home (as a few examples).
As a result of this type of co-created care, their care plan can decrease their chances of post-operative complications or needing to be readmitted to the hospital.
With co-created care prior to surgery, education about the surgical procedure and recovery process becomes a two-way conversation; not just instructions being dictated. Navi Nurses will explain everything in a way the person and their support system can understand, with all questions and concerns prioritized. This helps reduce anxiety and empowers everyone to be an informed, prepared partner during recovery.
While post-surgical co-created care is best accomplished prior to surgery, we understand that this is not always possible. Co-created care can also happen once a person is home after surgery and is still immensely helpful.
Aging in Place
Co-created care for older adults wanting to age at home is an approach that prioritizes their autonomy, values, and preferences every step of the way. It recognizes that their home is their domain, and they are the experts on how they want to live in their sacred space as they age. However, safety is among the biggest challenges for people aging in place due to age-related changes in health.
Co-created care helps alleviate these barriers by keeping both aging adults and their families informed on care plan details, so — as a team — they can proactively stay on top of their health as they age. Enabling individuals to age in place at home has been shown to improve physical and mental health, support social interactions and participation, and help encourage independence.
Co-created care also recognizes an aging adult’s right to make choices others may not agree with, as long as they understand the implications. If an older adult wishes to “age in place,” their autonomy is respected. Navi Nurses will always advocate for their wishes.
Adult children and other family members are welcomed as integrated partners from day one. Their hands-on role is valued, and they’re taught how to best support aging loved ones based on a clear, collaboratively built care plan.
For families, co-created care provides invaluable peace of mind knowing they are honoring their loved ones’ wishes. It gives them a voice and the knowledge to effectively uphold their loved ones’ values and preferences as their health evolves. Difficult late-life transitions become much easier when driven by co-created care.
End of Life
Co-created care is especially vital and valuable for end-of-life situations. This is when a person’s values, beliefs, and preferences around how they want to experience their final days, weeks, or months should be the driving force behind every care decision.
Ideally before any acute crisis, Navi Nurses works closely with the individual to deeply understand their end-of-life wishes through thoughtful conversation. This could cover preferences around:
- Palliative versus curative treatment
- Hospitalization
- Life-sustaining measures
- Comfort levels
- Spiritual needs
- And much more
The person’s values and goals for their remaining life are documented in a care plan for the team to follow.
As the person’s condition changes, Navi Nurses has ongoing discussions to reaffirm or redefine their priorities. They explain all options using clear language so the person can make informed decisions aligned with their wishes.
Family members are included in this process based on the person’s consent. A key part of the collaboratively built plan is determining where the person wants to spend their final days — at home, in a facility, or another setting. Their preference drives all logistics and care delivery.
Navi Nurses helps orchestrate all providers involved, ensuring every team member from hospice to clergy and all visitors understands and respects the person’s wishes. This fosters seamless, consistent, and dignified end-of-life care delivery. Communication remains a top priority, keeping families in the loop, and our nurse partners are the first to let the family know when a loved one is in their final hours.
It’s a gift to be able to take our final breath surrounded by those we love, in a setting of our choosing, and being cared for in a manner that aligns with our beliefs. Co-created end-of-life care at home makes this possible. It’s the ultimate gesture of human dignity, respect, and compassion when someone is at their most vulnerable. This is exactly what we do at Navi Nurses.
Complex Care
No matter what age or stage of life a client is in, our skilled nursing partners have the expertise to provide a wide spectrum of complex patient-centered care. Whether an individual is in need of IV antibiotics, wound care, or other specific care requirements, a private-duty in-home nurse works with family members to deliver the best co-created care plan for the client’s needs.
Co-created care is especially crucial for individuals facing complex care situations involving multiple chronic conditions, disabilities, or other complicated health needs. In these circumstances, there are many different aspects of care to juggle and a heightened need for personalized, coordinated support.
From the very start, the individual and their family members (if desired) collaborate with Navi Nurses to co-create a comprehensive care plan. We also will ensure all other interdisciplinary members are part of this conversation — including physicians, therapists, social workers, and more.
This process aims to understand and address all dimensions impacting their health: medical, psychological, social, financial, functional, and more. The individual’s own goals, needs, and preferences drive every aspect of this plan.
Rather than care being prescribed, the individual with complex needs remains the ultimate decision-maker throughout their journey. The care team provides education on all treatment options and implications, but final choices align with the individual’s informed preferences.
This could cover anything from medication and therapies to providers and schedules and beyond. Focus is placed on maximizing the individual’s autonomy, self-management abilities, and functional independence within the context of their conditions.
Equally important, co-created care acknowledges and equips a person’s support system. Their caregivers have a voice, deeper understanding, and the coaching to effectively uphold their loved one’s preferences. This philosophy makes an overwhelming reality more manageable through true partnership and shared humanistic principles, so caregivers never feel alone.
Form Co-Created Care Partnerships with Private Duty Nurses in Phoenix
As a leader in the co-created care movement, Navi Nurses CEO Jasmine Bhatti and the collective nurse network in the Phoenix-Metro area are passionate about empowering, engaging, and educating clients and families as the new standard for co-creation in care.
Want to learn more about how to implement co-created care and kickstart a rewarding nurse-patient relationship with our team of in-home RNs? We’d love to hear from you. Call us at (480) 630-0808 or reach out today.
