Patient and Family Engagement During Challenging Times: What Works and What Does Not?

Abstract

A paradigm shift towards enhanced strategies to effectively engage patients and families in delivering safe and high-quality healthcare services was observed during recent times, particularly in the last decade. Immediately prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the tri-institutional global healthcare quality reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, World Bank Group, and Lancet Global Health Commission reported the patient and family engagement measures used globally, highlighting the variations across the regions of the world. Through a pandemic for more than a year now, we aim to present the key lessons learned from practices and strategies to proactively engage patients and families. These strategies may continue to be implemented in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era to improve patient and family-centered care.

A qualitative study exploring how patient engagement activities were sustained or adapted in Canadian healthcare organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Although maintaining the patient voice throughout a healthcare crisis is possible by leveraging virtual technology [17,24], it will not always be seamless as reflected in the results of this paper and barriers reported in the literature (mainly access issues) [11,15]. A variety of communication methods should ideally be used to engage with patient partners.…”

“…within the organization, this sent a signal to patient partners that their involvement was not needed and patient engagement was not an organizational priority [11,22]. Organizations will need to consider what structures and resources (e.g., infrastructure to support their engagement practices) are necessary to support on-going patient engagement [9,[23][24][25]. For example, individuals in leadership roles can support their organization's commitment to patient engagement across all levels of the organization [23,25] by being a leader who spends the time building collaborating with patient partners to develop adaptive solutions to overcome challenges within the organization to advance patient-centered care [26,27].…”

Relação Médico-Paciente: O Papel Dos Cuidados Paliativos No Contexto Da Covid-19

“…Considerando isso, a humanização na relação médico-paciente é indispensável, visto que escutar as angústias do paciente e tratá-lo como um indivíduo, cuja história vai muito além de sua doença, é uma forma de acolhê-lo, o que muito contribuirá para o bem-estar do paciente e para a futura adesão aos cuidados com as necessidades em saúde que o indivíduo apresenta. Assim, quando existe empatia e uma relação horizontal equilibrada, o que envolve uma comunicação adequada e efetiva, o médico deixa de ser colocado como o único componente importante da relação, ou seja, médico e paciente possuem uma importância equitativa (PAZINATTO, 2019;ABID et al, 2021;KIM et al, 2021;VALA-DARES et al, 2021).…”

Improving patient experience by implementing an organisational culture model

“…Patient experience (PX) is an independent dimension of quality of care, clinical efficacy and patient safety 1 2. The Beryl Institute has defined the PX as ‘the sum of all interactions shaped by the organisation’s culture that influence the patient perceptions across the continuum of care’ 3. In addition, the PX represents a valid indicator and measure of patient-centred care, one of the healthcare quality domains 4…”

“…1 2 The Beryl Institute has defined the PX as 'the sum of all interactions shaped by the organisation's culture that influence the patient perceptions across the continuum of care'. 3 In addition, the PX represents a valid indicator and measure of patient-centred care, one of the healthcare quality domains. 4 PX is associated with increased clinical efficacy and safety, making it one of the top priorities for healthcare organisations in the short and long term.…”