Much has been written about patient-centered care (PCC) in medical literature. PCC has been praised as the ultimate objective of medicine by some. However, critics have pointed out the obvious: The antonym of PCC is doctor-centered medical care. Is doctor-centered care wrong? And what do we practice if we do not follow PCC? Can physicians transfer all responsibility for decision making to patients, in the name of PCC? Do patients have a right to choose outcomes, and make clinical decisions to achieve those outcomes? Most of the work on PCC has been done in the fields of family medicine and primary care. Minimal publications are available to highlight the role of PCC in endocrinology and diabetology. This brief communication discusses some concepts of PCC, and expands upon this term, to assess its relevance to diabetology.
Keywords: Diabetes; family-oriented care; patient-centered care; person-focused care; relationship-centered care; shared decision making.