Patient Partnerships & Health Professions Education
Special thanks to Lynn Ashdown, Melanie Clement, Jerry Maniate & Lyn Sonnenberg
Content generated as part of a workshop presented at 15NAC (National CPD Accreditation Conference) in Ottawa, Canada on October 21-22, 2024.
Background
​“The true value of a product or patient solution is defined by those who will ultimately use it.” (reference)
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We fail to not only appreciate, but utilize, the expertise that patients with lived experience have.
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Imagine the transformation that healthcare and education can have if patients were viewed as equal stakeholders?
This is a significant shift from how patients were traditionally viewed by health care professionals and how they are engaged with in both the health system and higher education system. Doing so requires intentionality to both relationship and trust-building in order for authentic bidirectional co-design to occur. This is tough work but doing it can result enriched educational experiences that powerfully impact, learners, teachers / preceptors, but also patients, caregivers, & their loved ones.
Key Definitions & Concepts
Patient
‘Patient’ is an umbrella term that includes people with health conditions, their family/loved ones and caregivers, and others with relevant lived experience. Other terms such as client, consumer, person with lived experience, and service user are used interchangeably in the literature, and patients themselves disagree with the labels and/or terminology that they prefer.1 Patient is still the most widely used in Canada and it’s possible that there will never be one universally accepted term.2
Patient Partners
Individuals with extensive lived experience in the healthcare system
Benefits to Patient Involvment
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Improves patient-centred care
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Ensures the needs of the communities you serve are being met (social accountability)
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Positively influences care process and outcomes
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Enhances interprofessional education (IPE)
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Learning goes both ways: Patients get a better understanding of the healthcare side of things
Why include patients?
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Patients’ lived experiences represent a unique wealth of knowledge unknown to healthcare providers and/or other stakeholders
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This is complementary knowledge; greater understanding of patient perspective
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Patients experience the entire system, not just silos, so they see the gaps in systems
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Patients understand navigating healthcare and can create change
Current State of Patient Partnering
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Patients as research partners (Strategy for Patient Oriented Research-SPOR)
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Growth of grassroots patient organizations, Patient and Family Advisory Councils, patient partnering strategy (i.e.: CMA, Healthcare Excellence Canada)
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Accreditation requirement for Canadian hospitals
Benefits of Patient Partnership in Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
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Patients’ lived experiences represent a unique wealth of knowledge unknown to healthcare providers; this is complementary to biomedical teachings in medicine
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Leads to increased empathy, a greater understanding of illness, and improved communication skills
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Learning from, and collaborating with patients builds patient-centred healthcare systems
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Provides a way to be socially accountable and meet the needs of the population it serves
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Contributes to the development of the roles within the CanMEDS framework
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Focuses CPD activities to ensure MD’s have useful learning materials to take back to their patients
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Enhances interprofessional education (IPE)
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Learning goes both ways: Patients get a better understanding of the MD and healthcare side of things
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Helps to identify practice gaps in education
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Demonstrates commitment to inclusivity
Accredited e-Learning Modules
Engaging Patient as Partners in medical Continuing Professional Development (CPD): Getting Started
Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public (CEPPP)
Collaborative project between the Coalition for Physician Learning and Practice Improvement, UdeM Faculty of Medicine CPD and CEPPP
Articles & Books
= Article
= Book
= EqHS Lab members
= Tool
= Website
Patients as Partners in Research: How to Talk About Compensation With Patient Partners
DP Richards et al