Looking Within: Intentions of Practice for Person-Centered Care.

Abstract

In order to integrate the biological, psychological, social, and existential dimensions of care into my day-to-day clinical encounters with patients, I have worked to cultivate several intentions of practice. These intentions of practice-habits of mind that nurture my resolve to attend to patients as complex human beings- help me navigate my interactions with patients and families in ways that are simultaneously efficacious and therapeutic. When routinely recalled and adeptly implemented, they are what distinguish me as a competent and capable practitioner of person-centered care, when I am at my best, from when I am not. I present them here in hopes that others may find them useful as they progress down their ongoing paths as healing physicians.