Meaningful Patient Participation in Health Care Education: A Theoretically Informed Study Exploring Boundaries and...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Patient and Public Involvement
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Recent policy changes mandate patient involvement in health care curricula.
• Understanding the implications of patient-academic partnerships is crucial.
• This study explores the meaning of patient partnership in academic settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the meaning of involving patients as partners within an academic community.
• To identify challenges and insights related to patient-academic partnerships in health care education.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative case study using a social constructivist approach.
• Communities of practice as the theoretical framework.
• Semistructured interviews with patients and educators, focus groups with students, analyzed via reflexive thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Boundaries related to knowledge, shared vision, and trust hinder patient participation.
• Distinct identities of patients, educators, and students create tensions.
• These tensions offer insights into the construction of patient identity in education.

Conclusions:

• Communities of practice framework highlights boundary and identity issues in patient involvement.
• Recommendations include comprehensive training for patients and faculty development.
• Support for students to trust patient teachers and embedding patient involvement across curricula are essential.