11 - Involving patients and consumers in health care and decision-making processes: nothing about us without us

Summary

This chapter sets out to emphasise the place for patient-centred care with provision of the relevant information and effective communication that forms the basis of informed consent to, and preparation for, an occasion of anaesthesia. Patient-relevant outcomes are important to consider in clinical research that sets out to inform best practice and health care management in the anaesthetic environment. Many patients do want to be informed in a way that allows them to prepare for an episode of anaesthesia and to work toward improving outcomes.

Introduction

Receivers of health care, also termed consumers or patients, are involved in the systematic review process within The Cochrane Collaboration. This is in line with thinking that the best systematic reviews of health care interventions are those produced by teams comprising users, practitioners and researchers [1].

The Cochrane Collaboration defines a consumer as an individual who has unique personal experiences that allow him or her to provide an effective health care user or receiver perspective to a systematic review question. The term is used more broadly than for patients actively under treatment and the role of consumers in Cochrane Review Groups (Pregnancy and Childbirth, Breast Cancer, Haematological Malignancies) is the subject of a number of publications [2–4].