Recently, an absolutely new model of health care has been gaining popularity, which presupposes the concept of patient participation, or patient involvement in the treatment process as one of its fundamental principles. In this case, the patient is motivated to participate in prevention and treatment; thus, he/she makes an informed choice and takes responsibility for his/her health.
It is not surprising that this concept is considered today in many publications, in particular in the article by Nilsson et al., published in 2019 in Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences and devoted to conceptual analysis of the significance of patient participation in nursing care.
As it is evident from the article, the defining attributes of the concept of patients’ participation include three concepts related: learning, caring relationship and mutuality (Nilsson et al., 2018). In fact, these defining attributes constitute the partnership model, and namely through this interaction between a doctor, a nurse, and a patient the whole concept can be implemented.
In turn, this feature of the medicine of the future implies the active participation of the patient in the process of making both specific medical decisions and in determining the general strategy for monitoring the state of health. As Nillson et al. (2018) note, “the patient acquires new knowledge, skills and attitudes when he or she actively participates in an equal collaboration with the caregiver” (p. 249).
At the same time, the decisions made by the patient must be informed, which means that doctors and scientists, as well as nurses should work together to increase the general level of understanding of the basics of the human body among non-specialists, thus ensuring availability of empirical referents for concept implementation, which are new understanding, knowledge and skills of the patient, as well as raising his/her awareness and level of responsible behavior.
Reference
Nilsson, M., From, I., & Lindwall, L. (2018). The significance of patient participation in nursing care – a concept analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(1), 244-251. Web.