OP0258-PARE ESTABLISHMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF PATIENT EXPERT PROGRAM
Authors: A. Phoka Charalambous
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: Patient Expert on RMD’s is a Patient Instructor who can train on the clinical examination technique of hand, hip, or knee for Rheumatoid Arthritis or Osteoarthritis. This Patient can explain the differences between RA and OS, can give information about symptoms for RMDs, and can share personal experience. Having a Patient Expert Program in a patient organisation helps on Raising awareness with future Health Professionals, gives strength and makes a stronger voice. After a very successful development of the Patient Expert Program, with the help of Eular Pare Knowledge Transfer Program, the time for installation of the program in universities has come. Objectives: The aim was Medical Schools and Health Professional Universities to accept the program, in order for it to be a part of their education or training program. Having the program as part of their education or training program would benefit the next generation of Physicians or Health Professionals in the following ways. Better understanding for RMD’s and the patient perspective, increaseing awareness and early diagnosis, to build a rapport with the patient. The challenge was in having the program accepted by the schools and universities, as is the only program on this kind in the country. Methods: We created a task force to achieve our goal. The task force developed a strategic plan using the Swot analysis, to be able to achieve our goal. From that analysis the following plan was made: First we needed to prepare a presentation for the program. Second, we needed to demostrate it. Third, we had to have all our evaluation forms ready. And lastly, we had to make contacts with Medical schools by writing and by calling them. The stronger weakness and threat that came up was the possible refusal of the Universities, to accept the program. Results: We started our communications with the Medical Schools when all of the steps were ready. The Medical School that had undergraduate students accepted to have a meeting with us. During our meeting, we made the oral presentation of our program and the Professors’ response was positive and they proposed it to the Academic Board. The Academic Board asked for a demostration and so we did. In the end, the Academic Board accepted our proposal. The program runs on students in the fourth Academic Year, in small groups, and on the premises of the school. The other one with postgraduate Medical Students didn’t accept the proposal of our program, with the justification that as a department of a foreign Medical school, they couldn’t implement anything in the students program. So far, more than 10 trainings have been conducted. At the end of the first year that the program was implemented, the Medical School asked from the organisation for a Patient Instructor to take part at the Musculoskeletal Examination and be a model for the Examination. Seeing our success, and taking into consideration the students’ evaluation of the program, especially the fact that 95% of them said, ‘It was very important for them to have a Patient Expert Program during their studies’ our organisation decided to expland our collaboration with more Healthcare Professions Universities. Our original goal had been to collaborate with one of the medical schools/universities, but now we have bigger plans. Now we want this program to be established in all the universities in the country with the Patient Expert RMD’s program implemented in all health professional curriculums. Conclusion: The importance of the Patient Expert in RMD’s is unquestionable. Patient Expert Program is an excellent tool to raise awareness on RMD’s. Also it is very helpful for the Medical or Health care Professions student as it can help them better understand the disease and the patients. The success of the program is also giving motivation to the organisation to expand and improve the program. It also shows the significance of the program for the next generation of Physicians and Healthcare Professionals. Our organisation is leading in patient centered care and is proof that making the patient the most important is the target of treatment for RMD’s in our country. Disclosure of Interests: None declared