Has this ever happened to you, or someone you know?
You’re at the healthcare center and the doctor is wrapping up your examination. “Hmm,” he says. “Looks like lung trouble.”
He hands you an informational pamphlet and a prescription for medicines. You have questions, but the doctor cuts you off. “Just follow the instructions and you should be fine. Thanks for coming.”
You take the hint and leave. But the experience has left you feeling anxious and upset.
Yes, the doctor checked all your symptoms, but he wasn’t much interested in what you wanted to tell him. Neither did he let you ask questions. You want to believe that he has your best interests at heart, but it’s hard because he didn’t give you any chance to be involved, or participate, in your health.
What is Patient Participation?
In simple terms, ‘patient participation’ means that a person undergoing any kind of medical treatment or care gets a say in how they are treated. They are not passive recipients of care, but have a certain amount of control over decisions affecting their health. As a result, they are more engaged in their health outcomes.
Patient participation plays an important role in the formulation of health policy too, as it includes patients as stakeholders and advisors in a process of shared decision-making.
A Brief History of Patient Participation
Up until the 1950s, healthcare was largely paternalistic. The primary care physician made all the decisions, from how much to tell the patient about their illness, to what medicines to prescribe. The patient simply followed the doctor’s orders, no questions asked.
Slowly, though, attitudes towards healthcare began to change and by the 1990s, the concept of patient participation became more widespread. Patients no longer wanted to continue with the doctor-knows-best tradition. Instead, they wanted to be more involved in managing their health. They didn’t want doctors dictating to them. They wanted to be able to choose.
The medical community also realized the benefits of patient participation and care professionals reported better health outcomes when they encouraged and supported patients to play a bigger role in their own healthcare.
Meanwhile, research on the subject has shown that patient participation leads to significant benefits. There are fewer diagnostic errors, patients are more likely to adhere to treatment plans, and there is greater overall satisfaction for both care recipient and care provider.
Types of Patient Participation
Patient participation can take many forms. It can be on an individual level, such as when a doctor and patient work together to design a care program specifically for that patient. Or, it can be on a wider scale, such as when doctors’ associations and patients’ rights groups collaborate to develop national healthcare policies.
Some aspects of patient participation are:
- Informed consent: Care providers give clear, detailed, and understandable information to patients about their health condition, treatment options available, potential risks and benefits, and expected outcomes. Equipped with this information, patients can make knowledgeable decisions about how they want to proceed with their treatment and care.
- Shared decision-making: This is a collaborative process, where doctors go beyond focusing on the universal symptoms of any disease. The care provider takes substantial input from the patient in the form of the patient’s experiences with the illness, medical history, beliefs, and values, and together the patient and provider build a treatment plan tailored specifically for that patient.
- Self-management: Healthcare professionals provide patients with the knowledge, tools, and support that enable patients to manage their health, particularly chronic conditions, on their own, outside of the clinical setting. This empowers patients with the skills and confidence to assess their own health, set goals, monitor their progress, and independently solve problems as and when they arise.
- Engagement in healthcare delivery: This involves, among other things, patients giving feedback on their care experiences. The information is used by doctors and other care providers as a learning tool, to improve the quality of care they provide and develop the most effective ways to provide it. It is also used on a larger scale when devising healthcare policies.
Patient Participation in Value-Based Care
Patient participation is an important factor in Medicare and Medicaid’s Value-Based Care programs.
In value-based healthcare, patients are seen as active partners. Doctors take their feedback into account and collaborate to create integrated treatment plans that address all of the patient’s physical, mental, behavioral, and social needs. Because of patient participation, doctors can treat the person as a whole, rather than focus on a single health concern.
Does Your Healthcare Center Practice Patient Participation?
Patient participative care is patient-centered care. As the name suggests, it puts the patient at the center and takes their perspective, experiences, thoughts, and feelings into account at every step of the way.
Almost every healthcare organization or clinic claims to provide patient-centered care, but that may not always be true. If you’ve ever wondered whether the healthcare you receive is, in fact, patient-centered care, note if your care provider:
- Gives you a satisfactory amount of information about your health condition, diagnosis, and prognosis.
- Asks questions about your unique experiences with your health condition, instead of just ticking boxes on a checklist of symptoms.
- Guides you toward resources that will help you understand your health condition better.
- Gives detailed answers to your questions about your health condition, care plan, and treatment options.
- Involves you as an active co-creator of your care and/or treatment plan.
The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 42, Subchapter G lays out the rights of a patient and the rules governing patient participation. It’s a good idea to go through these and if you have any queries, you can schedule an appointment with our expert care provider closest to you for help and guidance.