A Checklist for Involving Patients in Educational Activities

Teachers in the health professions increasingly see the benefits of involving patients in their educational activities and are looking for good practice guidelines on how best to do this, especially when they lack experience. Patient partners say that they often do not get the information they need in order to understand expectations and prepare effectively for their teaching role. In collaboration with patient partners, we developed a checklist in the form of a parallel document, one side for instructors and one side for patient partners. The checklist is in four parts and covers the things for teachers and patients to do before, during and after an educational activity. The checklist has been used by patient partners and instructors in a wide range of health professions at two institutions. It provides a concise and comprehensive reminder for instructors, empowers patients to ask for the information they need and is a template that can be customised for different contexts.