Patient Participation in Health Care Planning Optimizes Outcomes

Researchers who presented data at the EULAR 2016 Congress found that stimulating a team relationship between health care providers (HCPs) and patients regarding treatment planning may help to improve patient outcomes.  

“Overall patients and HCPs highly valued patients’ membership in the multidisciplinary team conference,” study author Johanna E Vriezekolk of the department of rheumatology at Sint Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, said in a press release. “Although HCPs needed to get used to this approach, they reported experiencing an open, honest, and truthful team dialogue with their patients. A truly shared treatment plan, developed in partnership between patients and HCPs, led to a greater patient commitment to their treatment.” 

In order to gauge how HCPs and patients perceive the role of patient participation in team care, the researchers conducted semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 12 HCPs and 10 patients with rheumatic diseases. Participating patients were eligible for multidisciplinary treatment but had yet to be engaged in team conference care. The researchers then conducted telephone interviews with eight study patients after participation in a team conference. Five HCPs also participated in a focus group in order to obtain follow-up data. 

Study results identified several areas for improvement, including providing more information about treatment, encouraging patient involvement in goal setting, planning treatment, evaluating treatment, and emphasizing the patient’s responsibility for care. 

Patients reported perceived levels of involvement in care ranging from being passive receivers to having meaningful exchanges. The researchers noted that some patients reported feeling tense; however, the overall perception of the team conference environment was felt to be safe. Patients also reported that they experienced an honest and transparent interaction with HCPs. Most notably, patients stated that they were taken seriously, their needs were considered, treatment goals were mutually set, and interventions were concise and suitable. 

“Our hope is that by making this standard clinical practice, we can improve treatment adherence in this challenging disease area,” Vriezekolk said. —David Costill