Engaging patient: let’s talk about how health providers can do it right

• Autor(a) principal: Grilo, Ana Monteiro
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Santos, Margarida Custódio dos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/8559
• topic: Patient care; Family engagement; Health-provider barriers; Patient engagement; Empowerment

Engaging patients and families in patient care has been called a necessary condition for the redesign of the health care system and may be perceived as mandatory for the 19th century delivery of health care. For example, progresses in surgical care made possible for more patients to survive severe clinical conditions, but most of these patients are been discharged sooner and sicker from hospitals transferring the responsibility for patient care to patient’s families. Further, the development of life support technology increased the possibility for patients to remain at home despite being in a fragile health condition or requiring constant care. To respond to these demands of care patients and their families must be empowered and work in straight collaboration with the healthcare providers. Patient engagement has been defined by WHO as the process of building the capacity of patients, families, careers, as well as healthcare providers, to facilitate and support the active involvement of patients in their own care, in order to enhance safety, quality and people-centeredness of health care service delivery. Engagement involves partnership which demands mutual trust, honesty, respect, and loyalty as well as a strong attitude towards sharing information, decisions, and responsibilities and is focused and organized around the health needs and expectations of people and communities rather than on diseases. Therefore, levels of patient engagement must be adequate to each patient and to each situation.