Connecting the Dots by Integrating Patient Experiences into Decision Making

Patient experience and person-centered care has suffered immensely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many organizations have made great strides to create a person-centered culture where patients are treated as partners; clinical decisions were made ‘with’ patients, not ‘for’ or ‘to’ them. Over the past year, much of the work in this area eroded under the pressure of the pandemic.  Whether it is from the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled surgery, routine visits, or sudden illness and emergencies, for the past year and a half, hospitals have been receiving a revolving door of patients. During times of heavy traffic, it becomes easier to let the quality of patient care slip through the cracks. 

Having a framework and processes in place is important to ensure that this erosion does not occur at any time, especially times of crises. goShadow’s person-centered approach of discovery, analysis, training, and implementation ensures that when “Times Like This” inevitably occur, your organization and staff will be prepared to rapidly adapt and co-design solutions. Co-Design is a framework for partnership and is hardwired into processes and interactions between clinicians, staff, and patients at any touchpoint in their experience. A living, breathing framework with new innovations and applications regularly being piloted. The key tenet is to share knowledge and power amongst decision-makers, and to use both professional experience and lived experiences to develop sustainable solutions. In the article Integrating the Patient Voice: Patient-Reported Outcomes’ Future, Judith F. Baumhauer advocates for listening to the patient and using PROMs, or patient reported outcome measures, to provide more comprehensive care. A simple and quick questionnaire that asks the patient “how do you feel?” can optimize the patient care experience and result in better outcomes. Understanding care and the experiences from the viewpoints of the individuals who are going through these changes and participating in these processes is critical to break through silos, create efficiency, partnerships, and ideal outcomes. In healthcare, this means bringing patients into the fold and using their experiences to steer decision-making, because ultimately patients are the ones most impacted by these decisions. Shadowing, engaging the community, listening surveys, and improvement projects, are all ways that we can create meaningful conversations to glean “What Matters” most to patients.

Source: Judith F. Baumhauer, M., & Jens Deerberg-Wittram, M. (n.d.). Integrating the Patient Voice: Patient-Reported Outcomes' Future. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.21.0287


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October 29, 2021