The recognition and use of patient expertise on a unit for older people

There is growing recognition in health care of the expertise patients bring to the management of their own illness or condition. But some patient groups, including older people, may need encouragement to see their own coping strategies as expertise, and nurses have an important role to play in ensuring that patients' experiences are acknowledged and made central to the care offered. This article describes a study of patients' and professionals' views of patient expertise. It concludes that although disruption can occur when older people are admitted to hospital, this can be minimised if they are perceived as experts in their own condition and information supplied to them is based upon such acknowledgement.