Improving patient engagement is a subject that’s being talked about in hospital boardrooms across the country. It’s become the in-fashion political buzz phrase. Certainly sounds very well and good, but what exactly does it mean?
Likely different things to different people depending on what angle they approach it — all the way from a care assistant up to the hospital CEO. In a nutshell, it’s all about allowing the patient to take center stage in their health care and being fully informed and understanding each step of the way. It’s about education, encouraging healthy behaviors, improving health outcomes and lowering health care costs. The ideal state is to allow the patient to feel that they are in the driving seat and full participants in their own care.
As things currently stand, most health care systems across the world are way off from this place. It’s not just the health care that’s to blame either — because the biggest part of patient engagement involves the patient stepping up to the plate themselves. And there are some very real barriers to this including education, demographics, and motivation. There’s also the reality that most 90-year-old chronically unwell patients in hospital will have difficulty taking care of themselves. The issue is thus a complex one.
No one has a better understanding of where the opportunities for improvement lie than the doctors and nurses working at the coalface. We get to see all the problems up close and personal on a daily basis. I’m going to talk about how this pertains to my own specialty of hospital medicine, and where we have enormous room to engage patients better while they are in the hospital. Here are 5 areas to focus on:
1. Encouraging patients to ask questions when they see their doctor every day. As simple as it sounds, this is not done nearly enough and is a big missed opportunity to make a difference to patients’ understanding of their illness. There are a number of reasons why this doesn’t happen, ranging from a “rushed” hospital environment to patients sometimes feeling embarrassed to ask certain questions. I’m actually surprised by some of the questions I hear when I ask my patients if they have anything they want to ask me, and there’s no way I would have guessed what they were unsure about unless I encouraged them to speak up.
2. Giving patients all the knowledge they need about their medical condition. Writing details such as blood count numbers on the whiteboard at the end of their bed is one way to do this. In the future, patients will likely be able to pull up some of their own data on computers. The more that patients know, the more empowered they will be to make important health care decisions.
3. Involvement of families. Just as important as the patient, is the family. This is true for any patient who is too unwell to speak for themselves, and particularly applies to the elderly. Doctors and nurses have to ensure that family is completely on board with the plan of care and what their role is in the recovery process. I’ve always said that if you want to make sure that something is done after discharge, tell the patient’s daughter. It’s been my observation everywhere.
4. Involving the patient fully in the discharge process. The discharge process by its’ very nature is a risky endeavor. Typically there are medications that have been changed, tests pending, or even an uncertain diagnosis. All this at a time when the patient is still very frail. It is a crucial transition point, more important than almost any other to get right.
5. Follow-up care. All hospitalized patients must follow-up in a timely manner after being discharged. Nipping a potential problem in the bud can help reduce readmissions and potentially serious complications. Reminders should be sent to the primary care physician and a post-discharge follow-up call from a nurse or administrator would not go amiss — and also shows that we care.
There is no one magic formula for solving the issue of patient engagement in hospital medicine. It will require a multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach. Whichever arena we are in, it is vital for a number of reasons. Whether we are talking about raising the quality of health care, improving outcomes or lowering health care costs — there’s a great deal to play for. The more knowledge and opportunities to participate in their own health care, the better it is for both patients and doctors.
Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician and author of Thomas Jefferson: Lessons from a Secret Buddha and High Percentage Wellness Steps: Natural, Proven, Everyday Steps to Improve Your Health & Well-being. He blogs at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand.
