Todd Berner discusses the role of patient centered research in patient engagement and how it can be improved.

1. Patient Engagement Starts with
Patient-Centered Research

2. Implementing patient engagement in healthcare
is becoming more and more common,but in order
for us to fullyoptimize patient engagement
techniques,we need to be performing better
research.We need to better understand the
patient’s perspective so that we can fullytake
advantage of anypotential gaps in the patient
experience.
It’s time to move past taking the easy
road and to get them involved.In light
of such,I have highlighted a couple
projects in particular using creative
ways to recruit clinician feedback:

3. M A K E R E S E A R C H E A S Y
The researchers sought out patients suffering from
chronic pain and offered acupuncture services in
addition to other integrative treatment approaches.
More specifically, the study wanted to compare the
effects of group acupuncture (acupuncture with
multiple patients in a room) with one­on­one
acupuncture.
One such project worked
with urban low-income
community health centers

4. Considering how busy these clinics are, it
only makes sense that clinicians would
not want to volunteer to take on extra
responsibility and report findings to a
third party.
Diane McKee, MD, MS, of Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in Manhattan,
remembers “offering acupuncture to patients
who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it was
not a hard sell to the clinics’ doctors. Trickier
was squeezing the service into the bustling
clinic.”

5. That’s why the research team
made it as easy as possible for
clinicians to recommend the
study. All clinicians had to do was
identify patients with chronic
pain and ask whether or not they
would be interested in
acupuncture. From there, the
research team and acupuncture
therapists would attend clinic
meetings, keep clinicians up­to­
date with the process, and
communicate stories about the
effectiveness of the treatment.

6. C O M I N G
T O G E T H E R
W I T H T H E
C O M M U N I T Y .
Another project in Philadelphia is
analyzing whether or not
community health workers can
help improve treatment for
patients with chronic diseases.
The research team realized that
there was something missing
from their study—connection.

7. Patientgroupsweremeetingwiththeiradvisorsandthentheirclinician
insteadofmeetingthembothatthesametime.Thisposedanissuebecause
itmeantthingswerelostintranslation.Patientswerenotbeingproperly
informedofthe“specificlogisticaldetailsoftheinterventionand
improvements”thestudymightmake.
Inresponsetothis,thestudybeganholdingtownhallmeetingswherepatients
coulddescribetheirexperience,communityhealthworkerscouldexplain
theirsideofthings,andthepatientadvisorsandclinicianscouldworktogether
tocomeupwithsolutions.Afterward,theresearchgroupwasabletoarticulate
logisticalproblemsaswellasunderstandstakeholderstrulyvalued.
Clinicians have potentially the most insightful feedback to give,
and yet they go neglected very often in studies because of their
demanding schedules. If we are able to transcend this barrier, we
may be to improve healthcare far faster than we ever thought
possible.