Patient focus topics
Patient and public involvement
Health care policy makers in the UK have promoted patient and public involvement as a way of improving health services. They have identified ways in which patient and public involvement could happen more regularly such as in the planning of new services, in staff training and education, and in the development of more useful information.
But while pockets of good practice exist they tend to be isolated and much more could be done to embed patient and public involvement generally across all health sectors.
Research evidence supports the belief in the value of these activities (Department of Health 2004). The involvement of patients, carers and the public in decision-making provides many benefits including greater understanding of personal needs, improved trust, and better relationships with professionals and positive health effects.
Nurses are ideally placed to contribute at all levels of this agenda - at a policy level, at the level of local communities and at the level of individual practice.
Environment of care
"People say the effect is on the mind. It is no such thing. The effect is on the body, too…Variety of form and brilliancy of colour in the objects presented to patients is the actual means of recovery." (Nightingale 1860, page 34)
Studies have shown how environmental factors have a very powerful healing effect on patients. The impact of the care environment is enhanced by good standards of food and hygiene and due regard for privacy and dignity of patients.
The quality of the care environment can be checked in many ways including monitoring complaints, undertaking patient and staff satisfaction surveys, reviewing health care acquired infection rates and falls. Other aspects of the patient experience such as privacy and dignity are the subject of standard setting and improvement programmes.
Choice equity and diversity
Choice, equity and diversity are "gateway" values - values that underpin any interaction with healthcare. However the key to designing an equitable health system is an understanding that people have different concerns depending on their circumstances. People who are terminally ill may prefer to be at home with their family and friends rather than in hospital. These values need to be part of the design of the system (Commission for Healthcare Improvement 2001).
References
Some of the references listed below are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.
Commission for Health Improvement (2001) Sharing the learning on patient and public involvement in CHI's work (PDF 443.8KB). London: CHI
Department of Health (2004) Patient and public involvement in health: the evidence for policy implementation. London: Department of Health
Nightingale F (1860) Notes on nursing: what it is, and what is not in Williamson L Ed. (1999) Florence Nightingale and the birth of professional nursing Volume 1. Bristol: Thoemmes Press pages 5-79.