Evaluation of an advisory committee as a model for patient engagement

Abstract

Patient engagement (PE) is not well defined and little guidance is available to those decision-making relevant to health system improvement. After completing a 2 Committee, our objectives were: 1) to evaluate examine how Advisory Committee members perceived PE and their role in PE, and 3) to identify barriers and facilitators to PE in order to improve future efforts. structured interviews post-project about their experiences. Thematic analysis identified four themes: the approach, participant contributions, participant understanding approach was considered beneficial, providing an opportunity to discuss the project in depth, contributing to relationship building, and helping move the project forward. The social aspect important part of the engagement process. Participants felt they contributed primarily by participating in discussion, yet could not identify specific contributions they had made. All participants agreed that the experienc not profound with regard to how it would impact their engagement, or Although experiences were highly subjective, this study suggests that the act of participating in PE has meaning in and of itself to those involved, independent of the activities and/or outcomes of that participation, reflecting a broader public value that PE is an important component of transparent, accountable health systems.

Patient partnership in quality improvement of healthcare services: Patients’ inputs and challenges faced

“…Our results corroborate studies carried out in other contexts that demonstrate the appreciation of patient participation in quality committees. 43,44 However, our results go beyond these studies, as they show that patients did not only feel 'listened to' or 'heard,' but had the sense of being full members of the team, contributing on an equal footing with professionals while analyzing dysfunctions, choosing themes to prioritize, searching for possible solutions, and implementing them. Sometimes patients even took the lead in choosing themes and suggested solutions that were, in many cases, simpler to implement than those proposed by professionals.…”

Patient Advisors: How to implement a process for involvement at all levels of governance in a healthcare organization

“…patients who, having been through a significant care episode, have gained experiential knowledge regarding their illness and the healthcare system. 26 Once the process was established, the coordinating team met with the 12 establishment's departments, to make them aware of the benefits of involving PAs at all three levels of governance, and asked wards to identify motivated patients willing to put their knowledge to use by joining working groups, 27 drafting documents for patients, or supporting other patients. 28 As part of the process, PA candidates are interviewed by the social work counselor and the patient counselor to ensure that certain criteria are met, 25,29 namely that they 1) are capable of critical judgment and display a generally constructive attitude during their interventions with the healthcare system, 2) are able to distance themselves from their own experience of living with illness and to learn to live with it, and 3) can generalize their experience to other care contexts.…”

Engaging Patient and Family Advisors in Health-Care System Planning: Experiences and Recommendations

“…Overall, results from this evaluation reveal that the experience of engaging with PFAs on the OCP IV has many similarities to other reports of patient engagement (2,(6)(7)(8)(9). However, there is a key difference between engaging patients and their families in system-level planning and in designing the delivery of clinical care.…”

“…Teleconferencing challenges described by participants included a lack of their own technological skills, lack of equipment, and the limitations imposed by not being able to read someone's facial expressions and body language. This finding needs to be weighed against other observations from the literature that suggest the ability to attend meetings virtually increases participation, particularly among those who are in remote locations (6).…”

“…Supportive interpersonal relationships. One benefit of engagement is the opportunity to form new relationships (6). In this case, building relationships was important to many PFAs who had hoped to meet like-minded people through their role.…”