Five years activities of St. Luke's College of Nursing 21st Century COE program: Creation of people-centered care

Aim: Through the St. Luke's College of Nursing 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program, we also aim to develop and serve as a center for Nursing for People-Centered Initiatives in Healthcare and Health Promotion, which creates innovative ways of health care chiefly using partnerships and collaboration with people. Methods: Under the direct supervision of the president of St. Luke's College on Nursing, the program leader and COE Committee work together to ensure systematic coordination and control over research projects. Results: People-centered initiatives in healthcare and health promotion have given efficient feedback of tacit knowing, gained from people's innate experience encompassing birth, aging, illness, and death, following collaborative research with care consumers. By applying such knowledge to nursing care, the initiatives could be theorized and verified as the formation of a healthy community in which limited medical resources efficiently circulate. The development of this practical theory marked a milestone, producing a paradigm shift in medical care from the "product-out" to "market-in" approach, the results of which led to worldwide collaborative research. Collaboration through the global network of our WHO center was also enhanced, facilitating diverse international collaborative projects. As a result, research and education programs involving the exchange of novice researchers and graduate students have been encouraged. Conclusions: Through our five-year research activities, people-centered care has come to characterize itself as a combined, cooperative care that promotes systematic service in a comprehensive manner to meet the needs of consumers.