The Impact of the Patient trainer on the Integration of the Patient Engagement Approach in Family Medicine Group

Context: In Canada, primary health care is usually the first point of contact for people living with health disease. Among these primary care settings are primary care clinics (PCC), where the role of registered nurses (RN) is needed. However, nursing practice in PCC is variable and sometimes suboptimal from clinic to clinic. In 2019, the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services deployed a practical guide for RN practicing in PCC. This guide was intended to support best professional and interprofessional practices in PCC and enhance the quality of services offered in PCC according to a physical-social vision of care and interprofessional collaboration but also in partnership with the patient. The Formation de formateurs en première ligne (F2PL) project team developed a train-the-trainer educational intervention to support the content appropriation of this guide. This educational intervention is uncommon because it includes patients as trainers (PT) in the trainer group. PT provided andragogic contents about patient experiences to enhance patient engagement.

Objective: To describe the changes in nurse’s patient engagement practices working with patients as a result of the training provided by the patient trainers.

Study Design and Analysis: A descriptive qualitative approach was used to provide an in-depth description of changes in RN’s practices as a result of F2PL educational intervention. Individual interviews were conducted with RN and PT to explore the changes in practice achieved by the registered nurses, as well as the barriers and facilitators to the adoption of this new practice and to explore PT’s role across educational intervention. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was carried out according to a conceptual model about patient engagement (the Montreal model), and emerging themes were condensed into propositions. A peer review was conducted by the research team including a patient co-leader to ensure credibility.

Setting and Population studied: In a semi-urban region, 10 RN and 3 PT were interviewed.

Results: The intervention provided by PT have impacted RN in 3 ways: awareness or reminding of known principles, updating commitment to already known principles and enhancing professional development of new skills

Conclusions: Patient trainers could help RNs to improve their patient engagement practices in primary care.