The Future of Patient Engagement: Informed Patients Sharing the Work

"e-Patient Dave" deBronkart, Founding Co-chair, Society for Participatory Medicine and HL7 FHIR Patient Empowerment Workgroup

For far too long, patients have been relegated to the role of "humble supplicants," as BMJ editor Dr. Tessa Richards brilliantly stated. She was excluded from participating in the tumor board's discussions about treatments for her own cancer. In the past, "patient engagement" often amounted to simply persuading patients to unquestionably follow medical guidance within a paternalistic system, assuming that patients were incapable of handling the truth and would not know how to make decisions about their own care. But the times have changed. This keynote will call us to learn to listen to patients' voices and work with them as thinking co-producers. The key lesson to remember is that the future is unfolding before us, whether we acknowledge it or not.