Commentary on Discussion Paper by Miles, A and Mezzich J.E. (2011). Person-centred medicine as an emergent model of clinical practice: The devil is in the details

Miles and Mezzich have written a comprehensive review of the origins, development and current status of two influential international movements aimed at shaping the practice of medicine - evidence-based medicine (EBM) and patient-centred care. As the authors point out, these two movements have been largely independent of each other with little crossover of ideas as each pursues its own goals of trying to broaden its influence. Miles and Mezzich propose to take the strengths of both movements and to create a new integrated model of person-centred care (PCC) which is evidence-informed (rather than evidence-based) and incorporates a role for patient values in clinical decision-making. While laudable and logical to try to move forward with this approach which integrates two seemingly contradictory principles underlying each movement (clinical practice based on the findings of clinical research evidence and clinical practice that is responsive to patients’ values, preferences and beliefs), this task is not easy and, as the authors themselves note, the model that results from this process is still in elementary form. By proposing this new integrated model, the authors hope to stimulate further debate on the meaning of a person centred-care approach to medical practice.