Achieving patient‐centred care: the potential and challenge of the patient‐as‐professional role
2015
Background The patient-as-professional concept acknowledges the
expert participation of patients in interprofessional teams, including
their contributions to managing and coordinating their care. How-
ever, little is known about experiences and perspectives of these teams.
Objective To investigate (i) patients’ and carers’ experiences of
actively engaging in interprofessional care by enacting the patient-
as-professional role and (ii) clinicians’ perspectives of this
involvement.
Design, setting and participants A two-phased qualitative study.
In Phase 1, people with chronic disease (n = 50) and their carers
(n = 5) participated in interviews and focus groups. Phase 2
involved interviews with clinicians (n = 14). Data were analysed
thematically.
Findings Patients and carers de scribed the characteristics of the
role (knowing about the condition, questioning clinicians, coordi-
nating care, using a support network, engaging an advocate and
being proactive), as well as factors that influence its performance
(the patient– clinician partnership, benefits, barriers and applica-
bility). However, both patients and carers, and clinicians cau-
tioned that not all patients might desire this level of involvement.
Clinicians were also concerned that not all patients have the
required knowledge for this role, and those who do are time-con-
suming. When describing the inclusion of the patient-as-profes-
sional, clinicians highlighted the patie nt and clinician’ s roles, the
importance of the clinician–patient relationship and ramifications
of the role Conclusion Support exists for the patient-as-professional role. The
characteristics and influencing factors identified in this study could
guide patient engagement with the interprofessional team and
support clinicians to provide patient-centred care. Recognition of
the role has the potential to improve health-care delivery by
promoting patient-centred care.
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