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Abstract
Background: The extent to which patients and service users are involved in medical education varies widely. There is a need for an up to date systematic review of the literature that examines what involvement (description), the potential outcome of such involvement (justification) and ‘why’ such involvement impacts students (clarification).
Methods: Systematic searches of four databases were undertaken. Citations were screened and consensus reached for inclusion/exclusion of studies. Quality of study design and interventional presentation were assessed.
Results: Of the 39 studies included in the review, 4 studies were encounter based, 17 sharing experiences, 16 with patients involved in teaching, 2 studies describing consumers as tutors, and none with involvement at the institutional level. Outcomes in terms of benefits to learners included increased empathy and understanding of illness as experienced by patients, improved communication with patients and a greater understanding of patient–center care. Educational quality assessment showed specific weaknesses in theoretical underpinning, curriculum outcomes, content or pedagogy.
Conclusions: Patients can enrich medical education by allowing learners to explore patient-centered perspectives in holistic care. For educators this review highlights the lack of an underpinning conceptual basis for which to translate theory into practice.
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
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Notes on contributors
Morris Gordon
Morris Gordon, MBChB, MMed, PhD, is the director of the Blackpool/UCLAN BICC, has authored a number of education systematic reviews, the AMEE guide to systematic review and numerous Cochrane reviews. He is a Professor of evidence synthesis and systematic review.
Simon Gupta
Simon Gupta is a fifth year medical student who was on secondment and joined the team.
Debra Thornton
Debra Thornton is the Knowledge and Library services manager at Blackpool Teaching Hospital, has extensive experience of literature searching and has jointly authored studies on the impact of clinical librarian services in evidence based clinical care.
Michael Reid
Michael Reid is Clinical Librarian at Blackpool Teaching Hospital and has been involved in regional Clinical Librarian Impact research studies and contributed to several systematic reviews.
Ernie Mallen
Ernie Mallen is a patient/service user who works with the COMENSUS (Community engagement and service user support group) at UCLAN.
Angela Melling
Angela Melling is a patient/service user who works with the COMENSUS (Community engagement and service user support group) at UCLAN.