This approach of shared decision-making and placing evidence at the center of care requires a foundation of three key pillars:
- Clinical expertise – The clinicians’ experience and expertise in their field
- Clinical research – Clinical research and evidence synthesized by practicing experts
- Patient preferences – Their experiences, values, and circumstances
Combining these three pillars is essential for effective care plan creation and adherence. Patients won’t adhere to a care plan if they’re not involved and their needs and preferences aren’t taken into account. And, the combination of clinical expertise referencing synthesized research and care recommendations is only effective if shared across the care teams and within the patient education itself.
Engagement is about meeting patients where they are
Patient engagement isn’t a one-time event, it’s a continual journey that takes into account the patient’s needs, social drivers, and preferred mediums for better plan adherence.
However, barriers to engagement continue to exist: Fragmented ecosystems within health organizations, adoption gaps from different patient groups, funding roadblocks, and solution mismatches with how the patient best engages.
Patient education needs to be available in a variety of formats and learning styles to help address some of these barriers. Some patients prefer to learn by doing, referring to a physical handout with step-by-step instructions. Some prefer to watch an educational video with follow-up digital information on related topics.
Providing evidence-based education that’s aligned with the same evidence the clinician is referencing can also help increase trust and mitigate the need to search online or on social media for answers. It should also be available within existing workflows like patient portals and EHRs to help unify systems and improve care team adoption.
As an example, Allina Health Cancer Institute was able to expand their education content library significantly through UpToDate® Patient Engagement. They expanded their resources for cancer patients and care teams through a robust library of patient-facing educational leaflets and multimedia engagement programs, available in translated materials for diverse patient populations.
Healthcare isn’t slowing down, and neither are patients’ expectations. With centralized, digital innovations that meet patients where they are and prioritize prevention with data, we can make a meaningful impact on our engagement strategies for better health and operational outcomes.
To learn more, watch the full conversation in the Scottsdale Institute webinar, “Transforming healthcare outcomes with technology-driven patient engagement,” and get insights and tactics to address systemic challenges with the UpToDate Point of Care Report, “Systems thinking for evidence-based care teams.”
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