Patient-mediated interventions to improve professional practice.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety Research
• Clinical Practice Guideline Adherence

Background:

• Healthcare professionals' performance variability impacts quality and safety.
• Patient-mediated interventions offer a novel approach to influence professional practice.
• Examples include patient-reported information, education, and decision aids.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of patient-mediated interventions.
• To assess impact on healthcare professionals' adherence to clinical practice guidelines.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
• Searched multiple databases including MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov.
• Meta-analysis and GRADE certainty assessment.

Main Results:

• Patient-reported health information and patient education interventions likely improve professional practice (moderate-certainty evidence).
• Patient information interventions may improve practice (low-certainty evidence).
• Patient decision aids showed little to no effect on adherence (low-certainty evidence).

Conclusions:

• Patient-reported health information and patient education are effective in improving professional practice.
• Impact on patient health outcomes, satisfaction, and resource use remains uncertain.
• Further research is needed to clarify broader impacts of these interventions.