Involving patients in medical education

Patients have always been part of medical education, but we can no longer assume that they will choose to participate. The drive towards informed consent and a more equal partnership in shared decision making in clinical practice implies a need for different approaches to involving patients.1 In addition, recent reforms of medical education now use more structured and extensive patient contact,2 3 and this cannot be achieved solely through opportunistic patient contact in clinics and on wards. Using original data and background literature, we examine what is known about involving patients in medical education and suggest ways to improve learning and patient satisfaction. Consent must be obtained from all patients before they are involved in teaching Credit: WILL AND DENI McINTYRE/SPL This article is based on a search of Medline and references from primary sources, using the keywords consent, patient involvement, patient participation, empowerment, medical, and clinical education and the findings of a workshop at the University of East Anglia examining best practice for involving patients in student learning. The university took its first MBBS students in October 2002. We used purposive sampling to draw participants from groups likely to have a role in involving patients in medical education. Invitations to key organisations resulted in 49 delegates, with about one third clinical staff, one third key education-alists (tutors, faculty members, etc), and one third patients or their advocates. We used focus groups to discuss the following questions: We compiled data …