Person-centred care: collaborative approach in medical radiations to include lived experiences of health care into curriculum

Contemporary models of healthcare delivery recognise that active patient involvement is now a fundamental principle of safe care. Despite this, healthcare professionals often focus on the technical and medicalised aspects of patient care, failing to provide a holistic model of care.1 It has been demonstrated that wide disparity can exist between perceptions of service users and those delivering services on what constitutes high quality person-centred care.2

Applying an interprofessional collaborative approach improves healthcare workers' awareness of each other's professions and skills.3 Interprofessional education is vital across health professions to enhance patient outcomes. Promotion of interprofessional education should therefore begin at the tertiary level.

This presentation outlines an interprofessional approach to incorporating patients' voices into the curriculum. Students are given the opportunity to learn from people's lived experiences across diagnostic and therapeutic settings. The perspective of the consumer is presented using vignettes collaboratively designed by professionals across healthcare streams.

Twelve examples of person-lived stories were obtained from students' clinical practice reflections. Four were then selected based on clinical relevance with input from a clinical educator, a research radiation therapist, academics and a ‘patient’ in the form of a research assistant who collaborated on the project.

With a growing awareness of the importance of person-centred care, empathy and compassion are core elements for healthcare professionals. This project will further prepare graduates to deliver safe person-centred care across the healthcare spectrum, providing the opportunity to develop skills, behaviours and attitudes to deliver such care.