Hospital practices for the implementation of patient partnership in a multi-national European region

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Engagement
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Patient participation and involvement (PPI) significantly impacts healthcare delivery but is rarely assessed systematically at the organizational level.
• Hospital policies and interventions can influence the degree of patient involvement in their own care.
• Understanding the meso-level implementation of PPI is crucial for improving patient-centered care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the occurrence and maturity of patient participation and involvement (PPI) practices in hospitals across Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg.
• To analyze the influence of hospital vision and the presence of a patient committee on the implementation of PPI practices.
• To identify regional differences in PPI implementation and development.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study utilizing an online questionnaire distributed to hospitals in the border regions of Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg.
• Data analysis focused on identifying differences between regions and assessing the maturity of PPI development.
• Sixty-four hospitals provided full responses.

Main Results:

• A diverse range of PPI practices were observed, with varying degrees of maturity.
• A majority of hospitals included patient partnership in their philosophy of care statements.
• The implementation of specific PPI interventions was inconsistent across hospitals and countries.

Conclusions:

• Hospitals show motivation for greater patient inclusion, but PPI intervention implementation is incomplete and not fully integrated.
• PPI implementation appears more mature in the francophone region, potentially due to a more favorable political context.
• Further efforts are needed to fully integrate PPI into hospital operations.