Best practice note—1 A person-centred approach—five key messages for health professionals 1. Hear, understand and respect the person, their context and their decisions. 2. Assist the person to use their strengths and to build capacity with their supports and the community. 3. Assist the person to identify and aim for supports that are tailored to their individual needs. 4. Assist the person to facilitate and promote their opportunities, rights and responsibilities. 5. Assist the person to review their progress so that supports can be refined.
8.4 Person-centred goals Planning to develop a person-centred goal involves assisting the person with an amputation to work out what is important and a priority for them, develop their goal, and create an action plan with a list of the steps or tasks to be completed to achieve their goal. For example, a common goal for people of working age is to return to work (which may be the same, similar or different work, depending on the situation). The steps for achieving this goal may be returning to driving, using public transport, and ensuring that necessary workplace modifications are in place and any other barriers are removed to enable them to return to work. For someone with a lower limb amputation, their goal is not only walking (mobility) but their independence with transport and moving around the workplace, doing their job. The person’s priorities for goals can be very different to what health professionals identify as important [39]. Setting goals, identifying the steps required, and requesting approval for the services and supports the person needs to achieve those goals are a part of person-centred planning and seeking funding. Supports should be provided in all phases of the support pathway to enable this planning approach [26].
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The reason for setting person-centred goals is that they are meaningful and understandable to the person, whereas clinically oriented goals established by the health professional for their own work tasks may be less meaningful. Setting person-centred goals can have multiple benefits for rehabilitation and the person’s progress along the support pathway. Benefits include helping the person with adjustment to their amputation and their perception of being an active agent and having a degree of control in their own pathway of recovery [40]; enhancing their health literacy and motivation [10]; and enhancing their participation with their own treatment and rehabilitation, and improving outcomes [41]. In particular, people with lower limb amputations perceive setting their own goals as one of the enablers to their community walking [42]. The case manager should be involved as early as possible following a person’s injury, certainly at the point of entry into the funding scheme (refer to Recommendation 1). The case manager supports the person with setting their goals. However, setting goals and determining the necessary actions, who performs them, and the necessary services and supports to achieve the goals will also involve the multidisciplinary team. © icareTM | Insurance and Care NSW 2021
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icare Guidance for people with a limb amputation 2021
