Jul 28, 2021

New program aims to close the gap between doctors and patients

Patient Perspectives will bring the patient voice to the AUA Annual Meeting.

2017 Great Generic Science Posters[2] Resized

A new Patient Perspectives Program designed to raise awareness and elevate patient voices will launch at AUA2021 in Las Vegas. This pilot program, developed by the AUA, aims to help physicians and health care providers understand what success looks like in patient-physician communication and shared decision-making.

Through the program, advocacy groups and their members will be able to share their own perspectives and research, ultimately connecting with physicians at the world’s largest medical meeting in urology. Patients and their advocates will have the opportunity to address the disparities that may exist between urological professionals’ recommended treatment plans and patients’ quality-of-life preferences.

The idea for the Patient Perspectives Program originated from the AUA’s Urology Care Foundation.

“We were looking for ways to bring the patient voice to our Annual Meeting. We wanted to provide patients an opportunity to tell their own stories and provide a platform for them to describe their journey and convey the information they feel is important to understanding the dichotomy between what they feel, think and want,” said Keith Price, senior manager of sponsorships and exhibits at AUA. “We believe this platform will help physicians empower their patients and continue to move the needle on physician awareness, communication and improved patient care.”

The AUA invited urologic patients or caregivers to submit abstracts, and up to 10 were selected by a review committee for inclusion at the AUA Annual Meeting. Selected submissions met one of the following criteria:

· Address the question: What adaptations did you and/or your health care team adopt to better care for your health?

· Describe how you became more engaged in health care

· Demonstrate an idea that was put into practice and how the idea resulted in improved quality of life

The primary authors of those selected abstracts are now each creating a poster from the abstract. AUA will provide some support in this process.

The posters will be displayed in the Science & Technology Hall during exhibit hours at the AUA Annual Meeting. The primary author will have an opportunity to field questions about their final displayed poster and interact with AUA attendees, health care providers and patient advocates. Final posters will also be accessible after the Annual Meeting for up to three months on the AUA’s Annual Meeting website, AUA2021.org.

There has already been an overwhelming response to the program, said Price. AUA extended the submission deadline due to the volume of extension requests from patients determined to submit their abstracts at AUA2021. The chosen patient poster will receive a best poster prize. Each presenter will also be given the opportunity to be interviewed for future publications and activities.

“Whether you’re a urologist or any kind of health care professional, your end goal is the care of the patient,” said Price. “We want to help these urologists and health care professionals understand what success looks like in patient-physician communication and provide perspectives on informed decision-making with that improved communication. The end goal is improved outcomes for the patients.”

The AUA2021 Patient Perspectives Program is brought to you by the AUA with program development support from Pfizer. The content of this program was developed independently of the sponsor without any conflict of interest.

Visit AUA2021 Daily News Online for more articles.