Better patient engagement leads to improved health outcomes. The proof is in the pudding. There’s no pudding here, but we do have plenty of proof.
Numerous studies have been done on the positive effects patient engagement produces. As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, engagement of patients has been associated with better patient care, sustained treatment adherence and patient satisfaction along with those all-so-important improved healthcare outcomes.
Don’t just take our word for it, though. Check out these eight studies on patient engagement and satisfaction, including a few that utilized a systematic review to gauge the efficacy of this healthcare focus.
1. Engaging Patients to Improve Quality of Care: A Systematic Review
Published in Implementation Science, the purpose of this review was to identify the strategies and contextual factors that enable optimal engagement of patients in the design, delivery and evaluation of health services. Roughly 50 empirical studies were included in the review, all of which addressed the active participation of patients, caregivers or families in the design, delivery and evaluation of health services to improve quality of care.
The findings? Patient engagement can inform education, tools, planning and policy and enhance service delivery and governance, including care process or structural outcomes. As the authors noted, the level of engagement appears to influence the outcomes of service redesign.
2. Technology-Enabled Consumer Engagement: Promising Practices at Four Health Care Delivery Organizations
Less of a scientific study and more of a highlight of patient engagement strategies at work, this Health Affairs piece delved into the success of promising technology-enabled consumer engagement practices at two community-based delivery organizations and two academic medical centers. The authors describe and summarize the approaches, sociotechnical challenges and outcomes associated with the implementation of each of these practices.
As the article notes, use of digital tools to enhance consumer engagement and transparency could not only improve patient health outcomes and experience with care but also grow the market share of healthcare organizations.
3. Is Quality Important to Our Patients? The Relationship Between Surgical Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction
The team that conducted this study explored the relationship between patient satisfaction and short-term outcomes in individuals undergoing general surgical procedures. As part of the study, 757 satisfaction surveys were completed by patients following their discharge from the surgery at an academic hospital.
The findings of this study were published in BMJ Quality and Safety. The results? The research team found a significant association between patient satisfaction and both 30-day readmission and the occurrence of postoperative surgical complications.
4. Patient Engagement Following Acute Myocardial Infarction and Its Influence on Outcomes
The authors of this study administered Patient Activation Measure (PAM) surveys to 93 patients after myocardial infarction at the time of a clinic visit scheduled within 10 days of hospital discharge. PAM is a validated assessment tool that evaluates how engaged patients are in their own healthcare. The more engaged patients are, the higher the score and the more likely they are to adhere to medical therapy and make healthy lifestyle choices. This Virginia-based study, which was published in the American Journal of Cardiology, found an association between lower PAM scores and subsequent adverse clinical outcomes, including unplanned readmissions.
5. Nursing Interventions to Promote Patient Engagement in Cancer Care: A Systematic Review
Another systematic review, this one published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, was used to study the efficacy of nurse-led patient engagement interventions for adult patients diagnosed with cancer and describe the state of the art on the impact of these interventions on patients’ outcomes. As part of this study, the authors summarized a wide variety of nurse-led patient engagement interventions with different degrees of complexity. The review noted that a significant positive effect of these interventions was found on outcomes such as patient activation, self-efficacy, health literacy and quality of life.
6. Patient Engagement in Health Coaching and Self-Management Abilities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
The authors of this study tested the hypothesis that patient engagement improved patient outcomes through a cohort of 146 patients with moderate to severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). As the findings published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine indicate, the degree of engagement between a health coach and patients is associated with the perception of self-management abilities (SM) in patients with COPD. It has been established that self-management strategies can result in improved health outcomes, particularly for individuals with chronic disease.
7. The Association Between Health Care Staff Engagement and Patient Safety Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
This study was unique because it reviewed engagement from the provider side of the equation. The purpose of the Journal of Patient Safety-published systematic review and meta-analysis was to demonstrate a significant relationship between engagement and both safety culture scores and errors/adverse events. The authors found 11 studies suitable for their meta-analysis, and their research concluded that there is a consistent, statistically significant relationship between staff engagement and patient safety.
8. Informed, Patient-Centered Decisions Associated with Better Health Outcomes in Orthopedics: Prospective Cohort Study
Conducted at an academic medical center, this study examined whether patients who are well-informed and receive their preferred treatment have better health outcomes. Published in the journal Medical Decision-Making, it surveyed new patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis, herniated disc or spinal stenosis one week after seeing a specialist and again six months later. The authors’ conclusion? Well-informed patients who receive their preferred treatment also had better health outcomes and higher satisfaction.
Providertech’s HIPAA-Compliant Two-Way Text Messaging at Work
Providertech’s scalable outreach solutions use automated workflows to send text, voice and email messages leading to improved outcomes and enhanced patient engagement. One of our clients, an international, faith-based healthcare organization made up of more than 600 medical centers, partnered with us to enhance their lung cancer screening program using automated and real-time two-way text messaging to engage patients who are eligible for lung cancer screenings. The goal of the partnership is to scale communication to eligible patients who have not yet completed lung cancer screenings while also engaging them in their long-term lung health.
Our scalable and flexible HIPAA compliant text messaging platform combined with their team of expert patient engagement consultants ensured this healthcare provider could design messaging protocols that used personalized and timed text messages to guide patients through the decision-making process. As a result, they have observed significantly higher response rates than the national average for lung cancer screening engagement. Check out more case studies like this! And, follow us on LinkedIn for more information on issues affecting healthcare providers.
