HLT 306 Topic 4 Discussion Question One
HLT 306 Topic 4 Discussion Question One
HLT 306 Topic 4 Discussion Question One
How has the patient’s control over his own health care changed?
Patient participation means involvement of the patient in decision making or expressing opinions about different treatment methods, which includes sharing information, feelings and signs and accepting health team instructions.
Objectives:
Given the importance of patient participation in healthcare decision making which empowers patients and improves services and health outcomes, this study was performed to review previous studies on patient participation in healthcare decision making.
Materials and Methods:
To prepare this narrative review article, researchers used general and specific search engines, as well as textbooks addressing this
HLT 306 Topic 4 Discussion Question One
HLT 306 Topic 4 Discussion Question One
subject for an in-depth study of patient involvement in healthcare decision-making. As a result, 35 (out of 100 relevant) articles and also two books were selected for writing this review article.
Results:
Based on the review of articles and books, topics were divided into six general categories: definition of participation, importance of patient participation, factors influencing participation of patients in healthcare decisions, method of patient participation, tools for evaluating participation, and benefits and consequences of patient participation in health care decision-making.
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Conclusions:
In most studies, factors influencing patient participation consisted of: factors associated with health care professionals such as doctor-patient relationship, recognition of patient’s knowledge, allocation of sufficient time for participation, and also factors related to patients such as having knowledge, physical and cognitive ability, and emotional connections, beliefs, values and their experiences in relation to health services.
Keywords: Patient, Decision-Making, Health Care
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1. Background
In various scientific fields, participation has different definitions. In sociology, participation means having a share in something, and benefiting from that share, or taking part in a group and thus collaborating with that group. In political sciences, participation means the following: if people do not feel distinct differences between different issues they are faced with, they do not care about them and consider their actions ineffective, and if people, due to limited knowledge and awareness, consider their participation ineffective, they prefer to have less participation (1). Investigation of studies on health care shows that the focus of interest has been on participation of patients in care and treatment decision making process, using such terminologies as “involvement”, “collaboration” and “partnership” of patients, “client”, “consumer”, and “user” (2). There are numerous views on the concept of patient participation. One view considers the person’s participation in treatment decisions made about his own health issues (3, 4). In another view, patient participation means involvement of the patient in sharing information, feelings and accepting doctors’ and nurses’ instructions (1).
Patients’ participation in decision making in health care and treatment is not a new area, but currently it has become a political necessity in many countries and health care systems around the world (3). A review of the literature reveals that participation of patients in health care has been associated with improved treatment outcomes. Moreover, this participation causes improved control of diabetes, better physical functioning in rheumatic diseases, enhanced patients’ compliance with secondary preventive actions and improvement in health of patients with myocardial infarction (5-8). Emphasizing the importance of participation in decision making process motivates the service provider and the health care team to promote participation of patients in treatment decision making. These efforts include enhancement of patient access to multifaceted information providing systems and tools that help patients in decision making (9, 10). With enhanced patient participation, and considering patients as equal partners in healthcare decision making patients are encouraged to actively participate in their own treatment process and follow their treatment plan and thus a better health maintenance service would be provided.