A new article in the open access BMC journal Implementation Science reviewed 48 articles about involving patients in projects that redesigned small and large parts of healthcare delivery. Conclusion: higher levels of engaging patients in the work led to higher level results from the project – “enhanced care processes or service delivery and governance” – the kind of thing you’d hire big fancy consultants to do. Who knew??
We knew. Participatory medicine is all about patients being active contributors in all levels of delivering and managing healthcare, from the individual patient relationship all the way up to governance.
Join us at our second annual SPM conference, Oct. 17 in Boston: Democratizing Healthcare. Details and registration info are at the link.
p.s. ABC News ran a great essay today about this article, penned by Neha Chaudary, who describes herself as “a doctor newly out of training.” Gotta love the open and future-centered mind of new graduates!
Thank you for today’s posts about the benefits of patient involvement in improving care. One area that desperately needs to listen to patients and caregivers is billing. The medical community forms/statements/invoices are all designed SOLELY for insurance companies and government. They make life very difficult for the caregiver by guaranteeing extra calls to a medical provider to determine what is really going on. If anyone can suggest a way to bring developers to the table with some users, I’d be happy to help!