Educating healthcare professionals for patient-centred care

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are at the forefront of patient partnerships—they directly interact with patients to guide and inform their healthcare decisions.

This raises the critical question: As an industry, are we supporting HCPs in delivering patients the best standard of care?

Scoping the current education landscape

HCP training typically focuses on the clinical and theoretical knowledge underlying medical conditions and their corresponding treatment strategies. While this information is critical for delivering high-quality care, structured training on how to effectively interact and connect with individuals living with disease and take a shared decision-making approach is often overlooked. (1) A key barrier to meaningful patient care is inadequate HCP education around supporting engagement initiatives. (2) With a lack of targeted training on how to involve patients in clinical trials, patient advocacy groups, or ambassador programmes, many patients remain unaware of the diverse routes they can take to actively engage in their care beyond their appointment. Previous research has demonstrated the association between poor patient-provider communication and the quality of patient care. (3) In extreme cases, substandard communication skills can lead to misunderstandings in these two-way interactions, increasing the risk of life-threatening errors, including misdiagnosis or ineffective treatment plans. (4) This highlights a critical gap in current HCP education programmes in building open, professional relationships with patients that foster mutual understanding. Beyond this, when continuous professional development initiatives are established, prior research suggests there is often a disconnect between course content and its translation into patient-focused care due to barriers such as time constraints and resourcing. (5)

Despite these shortfalls, there is increasing recognition in the literature of the need to integrate patient interaction into HCP training. For example, in a literature-based study, Kwame and Petrucka (2021) emphasise the importance of continuous professional development for advancing active listening, among other communication skills, such as compassion and approaching topics with sensitivity. (3) Another study highlighted the value of hospital-based person-centred communication training on HCPs’ self-efficacy. (6) Further, an integral part of HCP education involves exposure to clinical settings, with medical school curricula involving structured clinical placements. Therefore, although trainees may not receive fundamental patient-focused training, they have the opportunity to interact with actual patients in real-world settings, shadowing practitioners in their daily roles. (7)

Advancing HCP education beyond medical school

So, what do HCPs need to enhance person-focused care on a day-to-day basis?

Patients possess valuable knowledge—they understand the lived experience of the disease itself. Therefore, HCPs should consider patients as ‘experts’ of their condition and leverage their insights to improve the delivery of human-centred care. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) exemplifies this by offering patients the opportunity to attend meetings to share their concerns and ideals, thereby contributing to the alignment of cancer care development with patient needs. (8) With this in mind, building patients’ lived experiences into medical education presents a strong, actionable solution for humanising healthcare.

A holistic approach to care is one key skill that has a demonstrated positive impact on patient outcomes. To support physicians' understanding of complex patient needs, incorporating patients’ overall wellbeing—emotional, social, and physical—and the impact of disease on daily life into educational programmes offers one strategy to enhance patient satisfaction. (9) 

Other studies highlight the link between effective, two-way communication strategies—such as active listening and collaborative discussion—and positive health-related outcomes, including enhanced quality of life. For example, physicians who adopt collaborative communication by actively listening and working alongside patients to build trust and mutual respect are associated with greater treatment adherence among those living with psychiatric conditions. (10) This evidence further supports the case for HCP education that extends beyond medical science and towards patient-centred care.

Although initiatives that encompass the power of patient voices have gained momentum in recent years, such as Rita Charon’s movement around narrative medicine, which inspires the medical community to espouse patient narratives, there is an ongoing need for standardised continuous professional development programmes and practical guidance to help HCPs learn from patients. (11)

To design educational programmes that truly enhance the patient care experience, pharma must work alongside patient advocacy groups and individuals who have lived through the disease firsthand. At Synthesis, we recognise the power of a collaborative approach—bringing patients, HCPs, and researchers together to humanise healthcare and education. Rethinking HCP training to incorporate real-life experiences is a valuable step toward a care system tailored to patients’ true needs. Contact us at info@synthesishealth.co.uk to learn how we can support policy initiatives that drive patient-centred healthcare and raise awareness of your efforts to engage with patient communities.

References

1. Rajashree K. Training programs in communication skills for health care professionals and volunteers. Indian J Palliat Care. 2011;17(Suppl):S12-S13. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.76232

2. Sarkhosh S, Abdi Z, Ravaghi H. Engaging patients in patient safety: a qualitative study examining healthcare managers and providers' perspectives. BMC Nurs. 2022;21(1):374. Published 2022 Dec 29. doi:10.1186/s12912-022-01152-1

3. Kwame A, Petrucka PM. A literature-based study of patient-centered care and communication in nurse-patient interactions: barriers, facilitators, and the way forward. BMC Nurs. 2021;20(1):158. Published 2021 Sep 3. doi:10.1186/s12912-021-00684-2

4. Howick J, Bennett-Weston A, Solomon J, Nockels K, Bostock J, Keshtkar L. How does communication affect patient safety? Protocol for a systematic review and logic model. BMJ Open. 2024;14(5):e085312. Published 2024 May 27. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085312

5. Al-Omary H, Soltani A, Stewart D, Nazar Z. Implementing learning into practice from continuous professional development activities: a scoping review of health professionals' views and experiences. BMC Med Educ. 2024;24(1):1031. Published 2024 Sep 20. doi:10.1186/s12909-024-06016-7

6. Wolderslund M, Kofoed PE, Ammentorp J. The effectiveness of a person-centred communication skills training programme for the health care professionals of a large hospital in Denmark. Patient Educ Couns. 2021;104(6):1423-1430. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2020.11.018

7. https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/medical-school/clinical-placements-medical-students

8. https://www.esmo.org/policy/patient-advocates-working-group

9. Jasemi M, Valizadeh L, Zamanzadeh V, Keogh B. A Concept Analysis of Holistic Care by Hybrid Model. Indian J Palliat Care. 2017;23(1):71-80. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.197960

10. Jenstad LM, Howe T, Breau G, et al. Communication between healthcare providers and communicatively-vulnerable patients with associated health outcomes: A scoping review of knowledge syntheses. Patient Educ Couns. 2024;119:108040. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2023.108040

11. https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2019/11/01/charon-espouses-power-narrative-medicine