Promoting engagement by patients and families to reduce adverse events in acute care settings: a systematic review (July 2014)

Summary

Patient-centeredness is central to healthcare. Hospitals should address patients’ unique needs to improve safety and quality. Patient engagement in healthcare, which may help prevent adverse events, can be approached as an independent patient safety practice (PSP) or as part of a multifactorial PSP. 

This systematic review by Berger et al., published in BMJ Quality & Safety, examines how interventions encouraging this engagement have been implemented in controlled trials. It found that while patient engagement in safety is appealing, there is insufficient high-quality evidence informing real-world implementation. Further work is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions on patient and family engagement and clarify the added benefit of incorporating engagement in multifaceted approaches to improve patient safety endpoints. In addition, strategies to assess and overcome barriers to patients’ willingness to actively engage in their care should be investigated.