The patient with a complex chronic respiratory disease: a specialist of his own life?

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The independent and central role of the patient with a complex chronic respiratory disease in targeted, personalized disease management strategies is becoming increasingly important. Patients are the ones living with the disease and are finally responsible for their lives underlining their role as essential members of the interdisciplinary treatment team.

Areas covered: The present paper narratively reviews existing research and discusses the special, as well as specialized, role of the patient with a complex chronic respiratory disease in the healthcare system and highlights fundamental elements of the (future) relationship between patient and healthcare professionals.

Expert commentary: Since the chronic respiratory disease at hand is part of the patient’s entire life, we need holistic, personalized approaches optimizing patients’ quality of life by not only treating the disease but considering the patients’ whole environment and where healthcare professionals and patients are co-creating value care.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• expert patient
• self-management
• shared decision making
• value-based health care

Declaration of interest

M Spruit discloses speaker fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. L Vanfleteren discloses speaker fees from Chiesi, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. F Franssen discloses consulting and speaker fees from Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Boehringer Ingelheim and Teva. E Wouters discloses consulting and speaker fees from Nycomed, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Chiesi. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript has not received any funding.