Open AccessConsumer input into health care: Time for a new active and comprehensive model of consumer involvement
Author(s) -
Hall Alix E.,
Bryant Jamie,
SansonFisher Rob W.,
Fradgley Elizabeth A.,
Proietto Anthony M.,
Roos Ian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
health expectations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.314
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1369-7625
pISSN - 1369-6513
DOI - 10.1111/hex.12665
Subject(s) - representativeness heuristic , health care , quality (philosophy) , tokenism , process (computing) , data collection , patient satisfaction , health care quality , business , marketing , psychology , computer science , social psychology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , sociology , anthropology , economics , economic growth , operating system
Background To ensure the provision of patient‐centred health care, it is essential that consumers are actively involved in the process of determining and implementing health‐care quality improvements. However, common strategies used to involve consumers in quality improvements, such as consumer membership on committees and collection of patient feedback via surveys, are ineffective and have a number of limitations, including: limited representativeness; tokenism; a lack of reliable and valid patient feedback data; infrequent assessment of patient feedback; delays in acquiring feedback; and how collected feedback is used to drive health‐care improvements. Objectives We propose a new active model of consumer engagement that aims to overcome these limitations. This model involves the following: (i) the development of a new measure of consumer perceptions; (ii) low cost and frequent electronic data collection of patient views of quality improvements; (iii) efficient feedback to the health‐care decision makers; and (iv) active involvement of consumers that fosters power to influence health system changes.