A paradigm shift in healthcare has revolutionized care provision in the 21st century. The paradigm shift has shifted healthcare control from hospitals and healthcare providers into the patient’s hands. Healthcare delivery has moved from healthcare settings into patients’ devices and homes to promote patient-centered care. The paradigm shift to patient-centered care has changed the dynamics of the patient-healthcare provider relationship by enabling patients to play a bigger role in improving their health outcomes (Bokhour et al., 2018). The shift to patient-centered care means that nurses should work more closely with patients outside the clinical settings to improve healthcare access, quality, education, transparency, and convenience to improve their health outcomes.
The paradigm shift affects health and behavior. Patients are actively participating in promoting and maintaining their health. They engage in healthy behaviors and lifestyles that improve their health and quality of life. Health has become a behavioral phenomenon impacted by the patient’s social and environmental conditions. CDC supports the assertion by stating that social determinants of health account for over 80 % of a patient’s health outcomes. Social determinants of health include economic health and stability, education access and quality, access to affordable, quality health services, basic amenities, housing, and the environment, and social and community aspects. Cheon et al. (2014) study demonstrates that the link between health and behavior affects the social determinants of health. It shows that mental health, diet, lifestyle, and physical exercise determine the number of days that a patient stays at a healthcare facility. It demonstrates the positive relationship between a patient’s health behaviors and their general health status. Intentional and unintentional health behaviors can advance or detract an individual’s health. Behaviors like smoking, drug abuse, physical exercises, sleep, sexual activities, health-seeking behaviors, or adhering to prescribed medications can improve or detract an individual’s health.
Health and behaviors depend on the existing social determinants of health. For instance, socioeconomic factors impact health-related behaviors and health. People living in poor neighborhoods with high concentrations of convenience stores are likelier to use tobacco (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). They also lack recreational facilities, lack fresh produce, and are more exposed to many fast-food outlets. These factors contribute to low physical activity and poor nutrition, leading to chronic diseases like obesity in such neighborhoods.
Hence, nurses should provide accessible, quality education to promote patients’ health-related behaviors and health outcomes. The intervention is crucial in advancing patient-centered healthcare delivery. The approach focuses on prevention by enhancing access to information to promote healthy behaviors.
