Development of my medication plan involving patients and patient representatives as co-designers

Abstract

Background: Patient safety is at risk during the transition of care, and a lack of information about medications at hospital discharge could be a contributing factor. To be adherent, many patients request more information about their medication treatment. Objective: My Medication Plan aims to involve patients and patient representatives as co-designers in developing a tool to meet these information needs. Methods: A framework for the Designing Thinking model involving patients and patient representatives was applied. During the inspiration phase, patients' needs were explored by observing discharge conversations between patients and hospital physicians, followed by an information conversation between the patient and the first author (MS). Patient representatives were invited to participate in the ideation phase to generate ideas and designs for My Medication Plan. Results: Twelve patients and three patient representatives were included in the inspiration- and ideation phases. Among the patients, the most frequent themes during the discharge conversations were medication and medication changes. Least frequent theme was disease prevention. The patient representatives discussed the importance of My Medication Plan being a non-electronic tool with additional pages to document non-prescription medications and boxes for free text. Furthermore, a glossary over medical terms was added in My Medication Plan for explanation. To ensure patient safety the already existing Shared Medication Record given to patient was combined with My Medication Plan. Conclusion: My Medication Plan was developed as a non-electronic tool consisting of a print of the Shared Medication Record and specific documents sharing important medication-related information. Patients and patients' representatives becoming co-designers are innovative, as the inclusion of both patients and patients' representatives is innovative as both groups present different perspectives.