Patient Partnership in Stroke Care: A Scoping Review

Patient partnership is increasingly recognised as a core component of high-quality healthcare. This review aims to explore how patient partnership is implemented across the stroke pathway, where recovery trajectories are complex and multidimensional. It will also show how medical education can shift student learning from a transactional process to one of partnership and collaboration. A literature search was conducted across Cochrane Library, Embase, and PubMed, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Studies were screened by title, abstract, and full text against eligibility criteria. Eleven articles were included in the review. Each article underwent quality appraisal using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool. Thematic synthesis was used, mapping findings onto three key stages of the Stroke RightCare Pathway: hyperacute, the stroke unit and early supported discharge, and long-term rehabilitation. This review found that the role of the patient and clinician has changed in modern-day healthcare from paternalistic to one that aims to actively bring clinicians and patients together to form a collaborative partnership. Tailoring this partnership in each stage of stroke care is vital. In the hyperacute stroke setting, clinician-led decisions were found to be most beneficial for the patient due to the short time window to initiate treatment. During the acute phase, educating patients to understand their condition can allow for meaningful and collaborative goal-setting to take place, which has demonstrated improved patient outcomes. In medical education, introducing patient partnership early in a student's training is essential for creating a lasting impact on healthcare. Patient partnership must be tailored across the stroke pathway, and embedding these principles in medical education is important in shaping future clinicians' attitudes and practices. Future research should explore formal patient partnership training strategies for both students and clinicians. It should also assess whether clinicians find this approach appropriate across different medical conditions and clinical settings.