Incorporating patient perspective must be the forefront for all patient facing services. One thing I found helpful is to engage patient’s directly. Taking a proactive and focused approach allows for direct engagement, discussion and one of the highest level of services. Leaders mustn’t wait, standby or passively wait in the wings. But consider meeting the patient and their families where they are, engage and encourage discussion and share your story.

To ensure patients' voices are heard in team meetings, actively integrate their perspectives by reviewing patient feedback, surveys, or testimonials beforehand. Invite patients or their representatives to participate in relevant discussions, ensuring they feel respected and valued. Use patient-centered care models to guide decisions and highlight shared goals. Encourage team members to consider individual preferences and cultural factors during care planning. Summarize meetings by emphasizing how decisions align with patient needs, fostering a culture of empathy, collaboration, and respect for their experiences.

A useful practice is one of enlisting and revising patient goals everyday, to discuss them with the patient every morning on rounds, note them down, and work towards their goals in order of priority and feasibility with the team.

Appointing a patient in residence as an advisor to the project can significantly improve patient voices being heard. It is much easier to implement in organizations than a chief patient officer as a starting point.

To focus on patients’ perspectives, they must be included via multiple communication channels. Hotlines, survey calls/forms, feedback loops, automated SMS responses, etc. are all good ways to incorporate the voices of your patients.

We must make every effort to ensure easy access to the inclusion of the patients’ voice. We not only need to ease barriers for communication but must strive to confirm receipt of our perspectives. Unfortunately, this, in my experience is not common practice. I am fortunate for I have found a voice through my personal advocacy, participation in surveys and advisory boards. One company has a policy of compensating advisory board members with honorariums. I feel this as well as compensating for participating in surveys is valuable. It values not only our voice but our time. Something often overlooked when incorporating the voice of patient advocates.

Patients are the most important link in the healthcare chain, and to take care of patients perspective feedback tools are certainly crucial. Most feedback forms are designed in which questions are asked with a given set of options and patients need to select the most appropriate option for themselves. To make this experience better others can be offered as an option along with a space of around 30 words. This will allow patients to express their exact thoughts.

In team meetings, I prioritize patient perspectives by sharing real feedback from consultations or surveys. I also advocate for patient representation by inviting them or their advocates to relevant discussions. To add, I integrate their stories and concerns into decision-making tools, ensuring their voices shape our outcomes.

Patient-first approach should be the vanguard of the health care system. It is paramount that their voices are heard through us, health care leaders, in order for them know their perspectives are not overlooked. One of the things that our facility does is daily angel rounds to welcome our new patients and/or check in on our LTC residents. This way we are able to engage with them-- know more about them and ensure that all their needs are met, and concerns are addressed. Our findings and notes are discussed during our daily meeting, and we collaboratively find resolutions to their concerns, and more importantly understand their perspective.

In my experience the team should have some direct contact with patients in order to build trust and gather information for their specific needs. During the meeting the team reports on the patients they have worked with and includes nuisanced details of the patients. This ensures patients are seen and heard where they are at.