Future-proofing the workforce for person-centered healthcare

Healthcare systems globally are contending with rising staff turnover, burnout, and workplace dissatisfaction. There is increasing recognition that person-centered practice fosters psychologically safe, compassionate, and transformative workplace environments. Developing person-centered cultures requires intentional strategies such as values-based leadership, inclusive decision-making, relational practice, and reflective dialogue. It also involves creating supportive infrastructures that prioritize staff well-being, promote shared governance, and embed person-centered principles in policies, education, and everyday interactions. These environments enhance staff engagement, retention, and team cohesion by fostering trust, mutual respect, and a sense of belonging. Understanding how person-centered practice contributes to building resilient, future-ready workforces and healthful organizational cultures is critical for sustaining healthcare delivery.

Person-centered practice contributes significantly to workforce sustainability and the cultivation of positive, values-driven organizational cultures in healthcare. We are particularly interested in papers that explore how the adoption of person-centered cultures—characterized by compassionate leadership, relational working, shared decision-making, and psychological safety—has influenced workforce wellbeing, staff retention, and the creation of supportive, sustainable workplace environments. We welcome submissions that offer insight into healthcare professionals lived experiences of person-centered practice in their everyday work, and that critically examine the leadership behaviors, team dynamics, and organizational infrastructures that enable or hinder the embedding of person-centered principles and practices within healthcare settings.

Some of the key contributions we are looking for are:

• Identification of key enablers and barriers to embedding person-centered practice in workplace culture.
• Recommendations for leadership development, education, and organizational policy to support workforce sustainability.
• Evidence of how person-centered cultures improve job satisfaction, psychological safety, and reduce burnout.
• Contribution to broader discourse on future-ready healthcare systems through the lens of person-centeredness.

Potential topics may include:

• Entry to practice program curricula innovations
• Implementation of person-centered processes at a strategic level
• International workforce
• Quality and safety practices using person-centered methodologies
• Co-design with healthcare users and people with lived-experience

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: person-centered care, workforce training, collaboration, healthcare professionals, compassionate care, workforce readiness

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.