Co-design for implementing patient participation in hospital services: A discussion paper

Patient participation is increasingly recognized as a key component in healthcare. Patients’ experiences and knowledge are considered as complementary and equal in importance to professionals’ knowledge [1], both in individual care contexts and in healthcare organization [2,3]. Direct patient participation methods have been proven to lead to patient-centeredness and better care [4], but developing and implementing such methods is often a complex matter [5,6]. The use of the co-design methodology could offer a solution for designing and implementing these complex interventions. “Experience-Based Co-Design” is a specific form of co-design in healthcare. “Experience-based” refers to how patients feel about the used healthcare services and how well they serve their needs. “Co-design” indicates that both patients and healthcare professionals act as designers of the healthcare services. Also, it can be seen as an implementation strategy as it has the potential to counter reluctance within healthcare teams [7]. Overall, EBCD is a rigorous participatory approach that enables both staff and patients to (re)design services together by sharing experiences, identifying priorities, implementing and evaluating improvements in care and service provision [8].