Patient-centred care (sometimes termed family-centered care) has been receiving increasing attention world wide. The World Health Organization, the United States Institute of Medicine, and Health Canada have identified patient-centred care as an important competency area for healthcare providers.

Despite efforts of groups like the Planetree Alliance (130 hospitals in the United States, Canada, and Europe), this area of student education and practitioner professional development is underdeveloped.

A number of funding agencies have expressed interest in this area, indicating sources of funding are now emerging for support of research in patient-centred care. The Faculty of Health Sciences has begun projects in this area, including combined teaching-learning-assessments systems that mesh complex simulations within learning management systems.