Patient-focused care: key principles to restructuring

Patient-focused care (PFC) is a unique patient care delivery model that is becoming more popular in today's hospitals. Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, was one of the first hospitals to implement PFC. Clarkson used four principles to guide its pilot unit implementation--grouping similar patient populations, moving services closer to the patient, broadening staff skills, and simplifying processes. The four principles and their implementation are described; preliminary results are reported.