CERTAIN
Creating a Learning Healthcare System in Washington State
Patient Voices Project
The CERTAIN Patient Voices Project has three goals:
- To ensure patients have an active role in the research process, from deciding what research questions need to be asked to getting research results into the hands of patients in a way that is useful to patients, through the Patient Advisory Network;
- To gather information from patients about what happens after they leave the hospital, in order to improve information about surgeries and in-hospital treatment. This combination of information, called patient-reported outcomes, will help hospitals and doctors improve the healthcare that they provide to their patients, and can be available to be used in research as well;
- To use the information gathered from patients about their healthcare treatment and give it back to patients and doctors in a way that is useful to them to make better decisions about their own healthcare treatments. We call this work PROs in Practice.
In the past, decisions about healthcare treatments have been mostly left up to doctors, with patients and their family members or caregivers not being actively involved. This is changing however, with many doctors now seeing their patients and their families as partners in deciding what treatments are best. As a result, many patients are taking a more active role in researching diseases and treatments and working with their doctors to determine the best healthcare for them. More and more, patients and their family members and caregivers are also being included in conversations about new research as well, to help determine what questions they and their doctors need answered to improve healthcare. The CERTAIN Patient Voices Project brings patients together with researchers and doctors to improve the quality of healthcare and research by including the patient point of view.
Your Participation is Important!
- Only you can tell us about what happens after you leave the hospital.
- Only you can tell us about important issues that help determine whether or not treatment has been successful, such as your ability to do what you want to do on a daily basis.
- Only you can tell us about your satisfaction with your healthcare.
- All of this information is important to help doctors provide better care, and researchers to compare the results of different treatments to help patients and doctors make decisions about their care.
Contact us with any questions or to learn more about how you can participate in the Patient Voices Project.