A research approach for co‐designing education with healthcare consumers

Abstract

Where is the patient's voice in health professions education (HPE)?The notion of 'Nothing about us without us' is endorsed by the World Health Organization framework on integrated person-centred health services 1 that emphasises the importance of co-development between health care professionals and the people using health services. This has resulted in a change of relationship between patients and health care professionals from traditional paternalism towards shared decision making that involves active and equal health care partnerships. 2 This trend towards patient and community involvement in health care was further extended in the 2015 Vancouver

Obesity bias and stigma, attitudes and beliefs among entry-level physiotherapy students in the Republic of Ireland: a cross sectional study

“…A first step towards this might be to help students understand that obesity is a complex, chronic condition with multiple aspects requiring a multi-faceted approach to its management. Inclusion of a formal obesity curriculum that is co-designed with patients living with obesity, who have first-hand experience of healthcare weight bias and stigmatisation [42], should perhaps now be part of the contemporary physiotherapy students' education to reduce weight bias and stigma and improve the management of people with obesity.…”

Can the arts and humanities bring the patient's voice centre stage in medical education?

“…The arts and humanities have the ability to engage not just our thoughts, but also our feelings, holding promise for empathy training in medical education. 1 Indeed, the derivation of empathy is from the German word Einfühlung-meaning 'feeling into'-a term first used to describe how observing a work of art can engage us on the emotional level. As part of human nature, it is more difficult to empathise with people who are at the periphery of our own experience, and there is a tendency to assign them to so-called 'outgroups' 10 The arts and humanities can counter this: for example, portraits like 'The Artist's Mother', 1 reproduced in Brand's paper, can help students take an imaginative journey into the life of a person with significant mental illness.…”

“…6 As Varpio et al note, Crenshaw's conceptual encapsulation of this ideatermed 'intersectionality'-has become the 'overriding principle of [fourth wave] feminist theory'. 1…”

“…At an institutional level, medical schools and universities are likely to have non‐clinical staff who would be happy to share the patient perspective. Establishments would need sound principles and guidance for working with patients, exemplified in the approach taken by Brand and colleagues, which include the central importance of mutual respect and patient safety 1 . Granted, patients working with faculty in this way will not be advising on the technicalities of physiology and disease.…”

“…The arts and humanities have the ability to engage not just our thoughts, but also our feelings, holding promise for empathy training in medical education 1 . Indeed, the derivation of empathy is from the German word Einfühlung—meaning ‘feeling into’—a term first used to describe how observing a work of art can engage us on the emotional level.…”