Person Centered Medicine

Person centered medicine has emerged as a response to the organ specific, technical and fragmented medical treatment and care that has evolved during the last century in health care systems worldwide. Nevertheless, person centered medicine is not a new concept, as it is rooted in ancient medicine, exemplified by the medical culture of the ancient Greeks. The main components of Person Centered Medicine described here are the cornerstone for successful medical treatment and care. The physician needs to use his communicative skills for this purpose, adhere to attentive, empathic listening, be aware of the cultural, social and educational background of the patient and understand the expectations of the patient for the therapy ahead. He must place the narrative of the patient at the center of clinical evaluation. For this to be possible, the physician needs to have the necessary professional competence and to adhere to the basic ethical principles of medicine. He needs to collaborate not only with the patient, and in some instances with his or her family, but also with other health care workers, whether in a close therapeutic team or with individual professionals. He needs to critically evaluate evidence-based medicine that is most often presented by various, complicated statistics and to adapt the results of research to his patients in a person centered fashion. For this to be possible, the curricula of Medical Faculties, as well as to mainstream, continuous professional development programs, needs to include the components of Person Centered Medicine.