Author: Graffigna, Guendalina
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1466699930
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Industry professionals, government officials, and the general public often agree that the modern healthcare system is in need of an overhaul. With organizations concerned with the long-term care of patients, new strategies, practices, and organizational tools must be developed to optimize the current healthcare system. Recent literature suggests that patient participation may be the ideal solution, as patients and caregivers who are more actively involved in their healthcare experience better outcomes. Promoting Patient Engagement and Participation for Effective Healthcare Reform outlines models that can be used to harness the power of patient involvement as a way to instill change in the healthcare industry. This book features a convergence of healthcare professionals and scholars providing insights into the best practices of interventions and reform as well as practical applications to foster patient engagement and participation. It is a useful reference source for healthcare providers, students and professionals in the fields of nursing, therapy, and public health, as well as managers and policy makers.
Promoting Patient Engagement and Participation for Effective Healthcare Reform
Author: Graffigna, Guendalina
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1466699930
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Industry professionals, government officials, and the general public often agree that the modern healthcare system is in need of an overhaul. With organizations concerned with the long-term care of patients, new strategies, practices, and organizational tools must be developed to optimize the current healthcare system. Recent literature suggests that patient participation may be the ideal solution, as patients and caregivers who are more actively involved in their healthcare experience better outcomes. Promoting Patient Engagement and Participation for Effective Healthcare Reform outlines models that can be used to harness the power of patient involvement as a way to instill change in the healthcare industry. This book features a convergence of healthcare professionals and scholars providing insights into the best practices of interventions and reform as well as practical applications to foster patient engagement and participation. It is a useful reference source for healthcare providers, students and professionals in the fields of nursing, therapy, and public health, as well as managers and policy makers.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1466699930
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Industry professionals, government officials, and the general public often agree that the modern healthcare system is in need of an overhaul. With organizations concerned with the long-term care of patients, new strategies, practices, and organizational tools must be developed to optimize the current healthcare system. Recent literature suggests that patient participation may be the ideal solution, as patients and caregivers who are more actively involved in their healthcare experience better outcomes. Promoting Patient Engagement and Participation for Effective Healthcare Reform outlines models that can be used to harness the power of patient involvement as a way to instill change in the healthcare industry. This book features a convergence of healthcare professionals and scholars providing insights into the best practices of interventions and reform as well as practical applications to foster patient engagement and participation. It is a useful reference source for healthcare providers, students and professionals in the fields of nursing, therapy, and public health, as well as managers and policy makers.
Patient Engagement
Author: Guendalina Graffigna
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110452448
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
Patient engagement should be envisaged as a key priority today to innovate healthcare services delivery and to make it more effective and sustainable. The experience of engagement is a key qualifier of the exchange between the demand (i.e. citizens/patients) and the supply process of healthcare services. To understand and detect the strategic levers that sustain a good quality of patients’ engagement may thus allow not only to improve clinical outcomes, but also to increase patients’ satisfaction and to reduce the organizational costs of the delivery of services. By assuming a relational marketing perspective, the book offers practical insights about the developmental process of patients’ engagement, by suggesting concrete tools for assessing the levels of patients’ engagement and strategies to sustain it. Crucial resources to implement these strategies are also the new technologies that should be (1) implemented according to precise guidelines and (2) designed according to a user-centered design process. Furthermore, the book describes possible fields of patients’ engagement application by describing the best practices and experiences matured in different fields
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110452448
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
Patient engagement should be envisaged as a key priority today to innovate healthcare services delivery and to make it more effective and sustainable. The experience of engagement is a key qualifier of the exchange between the demand (i.e. citizens/patients) and the supply process of healthcare services. To understand and detect the strategic levers that sustain a good quality of patients’ engagement may thus allow not only to improve clinical outcomes, but also to increase patients’ satisfaction and to reduce the organizational costs of the delivery of services. By assuming a relational marketing perspective, the book offers practical insights about the developmental process of patients’ engagement, by suggesting concrete tools for assessing the levels of patients’ engagement and strategies to sustain it. Crucial resources to implement these strategies are also the new technologies that should be (1) implemented according to precise guidelines and (2) designed according to a user-centered design process. Furthermore, the book describes possible fields of patients’ engagement application by describing the best practices and experiences matured in different fields
Crossing the Quality Chasm
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309132967
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309132967
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.
Health Professions Education
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030913319X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030913319X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.
Health Economics and Healthcare Reform: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice
Author: Management Association, Information Resources
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522531696
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 490
Book Description
The effective delivery of healthcare services is vital to the general welfare and well-being of a country’s citizens. Financial infrastructure and policy reform can play a significant role in optimizing existing healthcare programs. Health Economics and Healthcare Reform: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is a comprehensive source of academic material on the importance of economic structures and policy reform initiatives in modern healthcare systems. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics such as clinical costing, patient engagement, and e-health, this book is ideally designed for medical practitioners, researchers, professionals, and students interested in the optimization of healthcare delivery.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522531696
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 490
Book Description
The effective delivery of healthcare services is vital to the general welfare and well-being of a country’s citizens. Financial infrastructure and policy reform can play a significant role in optimizing existing healthcare programs. Health Economics and Healthcare Reform: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is a comprehensive source of academic material on the importance of economic structures and policy reform initiatives in modern healthcare systems. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics such as clinical costing, patient engagement, and e-health, this book is ideally designed for medical practitioners, researchers, professionals, and students interested in the optimization of healthcare delivery.
Managing Patients' Organizations to Improve Healthcare: Emerging Research and Opportunities
Author: Costanza, Francesca
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799826546
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 173
Book Description
In the last decades, the importance of performance management in healthcare organizations has progressively increased. Patient organizations can play a strategic role by providing peer support and education, filling service provision gaps within public healthcare. As experts of their own pathologies, organized patients can aid research and development projects and provide the policymakers with input from the patients’ perspectives. Despite these advantages, patient organizations still face criticalities including low political attention at a national and peripheral level, scarce management skills, planning, control, fundraising, and professionalism. Managing Patients' Organizations to Improve Healthcare: Emerging Research and Opportunities delivers emerging research that raises awareness about the contribution of patient organizations in the healthcare process within regulatory authorities, public, and healthcare managers and improves patients’ managerial and healthcare professional skills for more efficient and effective processes of care. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as organizational management, patient value, and quality healthcare, this book is ideally designed for policymakers, healthcare administrators, medical practitioners, researchers, academicians, students, and industry professionals seeking current research on public policy management and healthcare management.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799826546
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 173
Book Description
In the last decades, the importance of performance management in healthcare organizations has progressively increased. Patient organizations can play a strategic role by providing peer support and education, filling service provision gaps within public healthcare. As experts of their own pathologies, organized patients can aid research and development projects and provide the policymakers with input from the patients’ perspectives. Despite these advantages, patient organizations still face criticalities including low political attention at a national and peripheral level, scarce management skills, planning, control, fundraising, and professionalism. Managing Patients' Organizations to Improve Healthcare: Emerging Research and Opportunities delivers emerging research that raises awareness about the contribution of patient organizations in the healthcare process within regulatory authorities, public, and healthcare managers and improves patients’ managerial and healthcare professional skills for more efficient and effective processes of care. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as organizational management, patient value, and quality healthcare, this book is ideally designed for policymakers, healthcare administrators, medical practitioners, researchers, academicians, students, and industry professionals seeking current research on public policy management and healthcare management.
The Wiley Handbook of Healthcare Treatment Engagement
Author: Andrew Hadler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119129524
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 667
Book Description
Winner of the 2021 PROSE Award for CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHIATRY Against a global backdrop of problematic adherence to medical treatment, this volume addresses and provides practical solutions to the simple question: "Why don't patients take treatments that could save their lives?" The Wiley handbook of Healthcare Treatment Engagement offers a guide to the theory, research and clinical practice of promoting patient engagement in healthcare treatment at individual, organizational and systems levels. The concept of treatment engagement, as explained within the text, promotes a broader view than the related concept of treatment adherence. Treatment engagement encompasses more readily the lifestyle factors which may impact healthcare outcomes as much as medication-taking, as well as practical, economic and cultural factors which may determine access to treatment. Over a span of 32 chapters, an international panel of expert authors address this far-reaching and fascinating field, describing a broad range of evidence-based approaches which stand to improve clinical services and treatment outcomes, as well as the experience of users of healthcare service and practitioners alike. This comprehensive volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach to offer an understanding of the factors governing our healthcare systems and the motivations and behaviors of patients, clinicians and organizations. Presented in a user-friendly format for quick reference, the text first supports the reader’s understanding by exploring background topics such as the considerable impact of sub-optimal treatment adherence on healthcare outcomes, before describing practical clinical approaches to promote engagement in treatment, including chapters referring to specific patient populations. The text recognizes the support which may be required throughout the depth of each healthcare organization to promote patient engagement, and in the final section of the book, describes approaches to inform the development of healthcare services with which patients will be more likely to seek to engage. This important book: Provides a comprehensive summary of practical approaches developed across a wide range of clinical settings, integrating research findings and clinical literature from a variety of disciplines Introduces and compliments existing approaches to improve communication in healthcare settings and promote patient choice in planning treatment Presents a range of proven clinical solutions that will appeal to those seeking to improve outcomes on a budget Written for health professionals from all disciplines of clinical practice, as well as service planners and policy makers, The Wiley Handbook of Healthcare Treatment Engagement is a comprehensive guide for individual practitioners and organizations alike. 2021 PROSE Biological and Life Sciences Category for Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119129524
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 667
Book Description
Winner of the 2021 PROSE Award for CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHIATRY Against a global backdrop of problematic adherence to medical treatment, this volume addresses and provides practical solutions to the simple question: "Why don't patients take treatments that could save their lives?" The Wiley handbook of Healthcare Treatment Engagement offers a guide to the theory, research and clinical practice of promoting patient engagement in healthcare treatment at individual, organizational and systems levels. The concept of treatment engagement, as explained within the text, promotes a broader view than the related concept of treatment adherence. Treatment engagement encompasses more readily the lifestyle factors which may impact healthcare outcomes as much as medication-taking, as well as practical, economic and cultural factors which may determine access to treatment. Over a span of 32 chapters, an international panel of expert authors address this far-reaching and fascinating field, describing a broad range of evidence-based approaches which stand to improve clinical services and treatment outcomes, as well as the experience of users of healthcare service and practitioners alike. This comprehensive volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach to offer an understanding of the factors governing our healthcare systems and the motivations and behaviors of patients, clinicians and organizations. Presented in a user-friendly format for quick reference, the text first supports the reader’s understanding by exploring background topics such as the considerable impact of sub-optimal treatment adherence on healthcare outcomes, before describing practical clinical approaches to promote engagement in treatment, including chapters referring to specific patient populations. The text recognizes the support which may be required throughout the depth of each healthcare organization to promote patient engagement, and in the final section of the book, describes approaches to inform the development of healthcare services with which patients will be more likely to seek to engage. This important book: Provides a comprehensive summary of practical approaches developed across a wide range of clinical settings, integrating research findings and clinical literature from a variety of disciplines Introduces and compliments existing approaches to improve communication in healthcare settings and promote patient choice in planning treatment Presents a range of proven clinical solutions that will appeal to those seeking to improve outcomes on a budget Written for health professionals from all disciplines of clinical practice, as well as service planners and policy makers, The Wiley Handbook of Healthcare Treatment Engagement is a comprehensive guide for individual practitioners and organizations alike. 2021 PROSE Biological and Life Sciences Category for Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
Transformative Healthcare Practice through Patient Engagement
Author: Graffigna, Guendalina
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522506640
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Recent literature suggests that patient participation and engagement may be the ideal solution to the efficacy of healthcare treatments, from a clinical and pragmatic view. Despite the growing discussions on the necessity of patient engagement, there is no set of universally endorsed, concrete guidelines or practices. Transformative Healthcare Practice through Patient Engagement outlines the best practices and global strategies to improve patient engagement. This book features a convergence of healthcare professionals and scholars elucidating the theoretical insights borne from successful patient education, and the technological tools available to sustain their engagement. This book is a useful reference source for healthcare providers, students and professionals in the fields of nursing, therapy, and public health, managers, and policy makers.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522506640
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Recent literature suggests that patient participation and engagement may be the ideal solution to the efficacy of healthcare treatments, from a clinical and pragmatic view. Despite the growing discussions on the necessity of patient engagement, there is no set of universally endorsed, concrete guidelines or practices. Transformative Healthcare Practice through Patient Engagement outlines the best practices and global strategies to improve patient engagement. This book features a convergence of healthcare professionals and scholars elucidating the theoretical insights borne from successful patient education, and the technological tools available to sustain their engagement. This book is a useful reference source for healthcare providers, students and professionals in the fields of nursing, therapy, and public health, managers, and policy makers.
Communities in Action
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583
Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583
Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Engaging Patients in Healthcare
Author: Angela Coulter
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 0335242723
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
This evidence-based guide provides the first comprehensive overview of patient engagement and participation in healthcare. It has been written for all those who want to understand the various ways in which patient and public engagement can contribute to better health outcomes. Angela Coulter explains the theories, models and policies at the heart of patient involvement as well as giving extensive practical examples to demonstrate the reality of involving patients. The book includes an examination of patients’ roles in respect of: Improving care processes Building health literacy Selecting treatments Strengthening self-care Ensuring safer care Participating in research Training professionals Shaping services Clearly written by a leading author in the field and well illustrated with data, examples and evidence, the book includes practical descriptions of real patient engagement, together with critical review and suggestions to guide future developments. This guide also brings together an extensive body of international evidence, making it the most current and original text on the market. Engaging Patients in Healthcare is essential reading for students and professionals working and studying in public health, health care management, health services and beyond. "This book is the roadmap we need to guide the creation of the healthcare system we’ve all dreamed about – one that truly taps the power of patient and professional wisdom." Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, Executive Director, Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA "This book provides the building blocks from which healthcare professionals can try to engage people more, from consultation based practices, such as shared decision making and improved self management, to deeper changes in shaping services and training professionals." British Medical Journal, 2011 "Policy makers and practitioners will benefit from Angela Coulter's analysis of the challenges of securing effective engagement and the ideas she puts forward for overcoming these challenges." Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King's Fund, London, UK "Angela Coulter has managed to de-mystify the concepts of patient engagement in health care in a readable, balanced, thought-provoking primer. A "must read" for students, educators, practitioners, managers, and policy makers needing a primer or update." Annette O’Connor, Emeritus Professor University of Ottawa, Canada "Committed doyenne, Coulter writes superbly about patients as the greatest untapped resource in healthcare. At a time when health services face so many challenges across the globe, there are solutions here that need urgent attention." Professor Glyn Elwyn BA MB BCh MSc FRCGP PhDDirector of Research, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Clinical Epidemiology IRG, Cardiff University, UK "While politicians pay increasing obeisance to the notion of 'patient-centred care' patients often experience a service built around the needs of healthcare organisations and professionals. The challenge is to translate the often woolly rhetoric of “no decision about me without me” into practical steps that improve the quality of care, and keep it affordable as cost pressures mushroom. Those who are serious about taking on this challenge could do no better than study Dr Coulter’s crisp and cogent overview of the theory, evidence and practice of patient engagement. " Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, National Voices
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 0335242723
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
This evidence-based guide provides the first comprehensive overview of patient engagement and participation in healthcare. It has been written for all those who want to understand the various ways in which patient and public engagement can contribute to better health outcomes. Angela Coulter explains the theories, models and policies at the heart of patient involvement as well as giving extensive practical examples to demonstrate the reality of involving patients. The book includes an examination of patients’ roles in respect of: Improving care processes Building health literacy Selecting treatments Strengthening self-care Ensuring safer care Participating in research Training professionals Shaping services Clearly written by a leading author in the field and well illustrated with data, examples and evidence, the book includes practical descriptions of real patient engagement, together with critical review and suggestions to guide future developments. This guide also brings together an extensive body of international evidence, making it the most current and original text on the market. Engaging Patients in Healthcare is essential reading for students and professionals working and studying in public health, health care management, health services and beyond. "This book is the roadmap we need to guide the creation of the healthcare system we’ve all dreamed about – one that truly taps the power of patient and professional wisdom." Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, Executive Director, Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA "This book provides the building blocks from which healthcare professionals can try to engage people more, from consultation based practices, such as shared decision making and improved self management, to deeper changes in shaping services and training professionals." British Medical Journal, 2011 "Policy makers and practitioners will benefit from Angela Coulter's analysis of the challenges of securing effective engagement and the ideas she puts forward for overcoming these challenges." Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King's Fund, London, UK "Angela Coulter has managed to de-mystify the concepts of patient engagement in health care in a readable, balanced, thought-provoking primer. A "must read" for students, educators, practitioners, managers, and policy makers needing a primer or update." Annette O’Connor, Emeritus Professor University of Ottawa, Canada "Committed doyenne, Coulter writes superbly about patients as the greatest untapped resource in healthcare. At a time when health services face so many challenges across the globe, there are solutions here that need urgent attention." Professor Glyn Elwyn BA MB BCh MSc FRCGP PhDDirector of Research, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Clinical Epidemiology IRG, Cardiff University, UK "While politicians pay increasing obeisance to the notion of 'patient-centred care' patients often experience a service built around the needs of healthcare organisations and professionals. The challenge is to translate the often woolly rhetoric of “no decision about me without me” into practical steps that improve the quality of care, and keep it affordable as cost pressures mushroom. Those who are serious about taking on this challenge could do no better than study Dr Coulter’s crisp and cogent overview of the theory, evidence and practice of patient engagement. " Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, National Voices