Patient-centred care is key message for EAU Patient Office Patient Office addresses patients’ unmet needs across Europe
By Kevin Mcbride Communications Coordinator for EAU Patient Office and Praise-U On Saturday 10 June, the Patient Office joined the annual meeting of the National Societies in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The presence of the Patient Office at these meetings offers a unique opportunity for the Patient Office to identify patient needs from across Europe and to showcase the tools that the Patient Office currently offers. During the meeting the Patient Office not only strove to build on already standing collaborations with the National Societies, but to see how it could assist in addressing different patient’s unmet needs across the various European countries. In his presentation to the national societies before the in-depth breakout sessions of the afternoon, Patient Office chair Prof. Eamann Rogers stressed the importance of the patient’s inclusion in their care process. Patient-centred care not only improves the patient experience, but also patient outcomes. Patients can be empowered to take up an active role when they are provided with adequate knowledge and resources about their condition. Additionally, doctors have a unique role in empowering patients in their own communications, and learning proper patient communication techniques can greatly reduce the burden patients experience during their patient journey. In order to help patients receive the information and tools they need, the EAU Patient Office stressed the role of the Patient Information website as a tool for understanding urological conditions and what the patient journey may look like. Online tools The online education tools on the Patient Information website are backed by the EAU
from the National Societies who help ensure that the information is both language-accurate and still adherent to the EAU Guidelines. The latest addition to the Patient Information website is the newest translation in Hungarian. “When diagnosed with a serious disease, patients can forget up to 80% of what they are told. Patients must be enabled to better educate themselves on their conditions.” Translations of videos Focus was also brought to the most recent collaborations that the Patient Office has done with the National Societies: the translation of educational videos into a number of languages so patients can easily digest their condition and prepare for their treatment. These animated explainer videos are available to the public and thus are easy for doctors to share with their patients when they are diagnosed with a condition that they might not be familiar with. The videos cover topics ranging from urinary tract infections to robotic surgery, offering a quick and easy to understand insight into the treatment that a patient might be about to start on. The videos are demonstratively successful, which highlights how these easy to understand resources are a vital tool for patients. This insight into already successful translation projects gave the National Societies something to work towards, and they showed great interest in the development of even more new materials that would be relevant to their patients in their own countries.
Prof. Eamonn Rogers presenting patient education tools to the national societies members in Noordwijk
different regions was that the tools offered by the EAU Patient Office were a vital tool to helping improve the patient journey. The need for patient education tools that are tailored to each country’s specific gaps in resources was emphasized, as patients across Europe have diverse needs, and language barriers can render even the most powerful tools inert. To address this, one of the ongoing projects of the Patient Office is language- tailored versions of the Patient Information website, where patients can view the information in their own language. These translations are a complex process involving native academic translators in cooperation with lay language specialists, in order to ensure that the information is both scientifically accurate and easy to understand. As this is no small feat, this ongoing process is a collaborative project with partners
Guidelines and patient reported outcomes. Great efforts are put into the translation of these guidelines into lay-language to lower the barriers to helping patients understand their condition. These educational tools save physicians time that would otherwise be spent breaking down complex conditions to their patients, and also better empower patients to discuss their condition on a higher level with their doctors. “Patient Education tools do not replace doctor-patient relationships, they enrich them, empowering patients to discuss their conditions on a solid foundation, reinforced by knowledge”, according to Rogers. Collaboration is key to success When Dr. Rogers and the Patient Office discussed in depth what the individual needs of each societies’ patients were, the consensus across
EAU Patient Office
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European Urology Today June/July 2023
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