Improving outcomes collaboratively with families: what works and what doesn't

As attention begins to shift from short-term surgical outcomes to long-term clinical and quality of life outcomes, patients and families are becoming increasingly responsible for outcomes. For this reason, it is essential to effectively include them in the outcome planning, goal setting, and evaluation processes.

There are a number of tools and strategies available to maximize patient engagement. These must be employed in direct patient care and system and policy conversations, for meaningful patient partnerships that can lead to improved outcomes.

As we move from a culture of paternalistic medicine to engaged patient care, there remains a need for a systematic approach to encourage patients and families to play a more active role as partners in improving outcomes. There is a need to be deliberate in setting up infrastructures to ensure successful patient participation. A gap in rigorous research in this area provides an opportunity for patients and researchers to put patient-centered research into practice, to better evaluate effective strategies, and further develop best practices in patient and provider collaboration to improve outcomes.