The establishment and use of a philosophy of care that states the fundamental assumptions, goals and care strategies of the institution has been shown to assist health care staff in making care decisions and communicating to patients, and
patients have described how they appreciated explicit care philosophies as they appeared to unite staff towards a shared goal (Edvardsson et al 2005). A holistic person‑centred care philosophy means placing the patient with his/her needs and wishes in the centre of care, collecting and respecting patient choices and giving relationships and tasks equal importance (McCormack and McCance 2006). As emerging in the example of the nurse at ward x, the concept of person‑centred care needs to be operationalised and integrated into daily practice so that it does not feel like another burden adding to staff stress.