Health Care Systems Support to Enhance Patient-Centered Care: Lessons from a Primary Care-Based Chronic Pain Management Initiative

Background: Supporting day-to-day self-care activities has emerged as a best practice when caring for patients with chronic pain, yet providing this support may introduce challenges for both patients and primary care physicians. It is essential to develop tools that help patients identify the issues and outcomes that are most important to them and to communicate this information to primary care physicians at the point of care.

Objective: We describe our process to engage patients, primary care physicians, and other stakeholders in the context of a pilot randomized controlled trial of a patient-centered assessment process implemented in an everyday practice setting. We identify lessons on how to engage stakeholders and improve patient-centered care for those with chronic conditions within the primary care setting.

Methods: A qualitative analysis of project minutes, interviews, and focus groups was conducted to evaluate stakeholder experiences. Stakeholders included patients, caregivers, clinicians, medical office support staff, health plan administrators, an information technology consultant, and a patient advocate.

Results: Our stakeholders included many patients with no prior experience with research. This approach enriched the applicability of feedback but necessitated extra time for stakeholder training and meeting preparation. Types of stakeholders varied over the course of the project, and more involvement of medical assistants and Information Technology staff was required than originally anticipated.

Conclusion: Meaningful engagement of patient and physician stakeholders must be solicited in a well-coordinated manner with broad health care system supports in place to ensure full execution of patient-centered processes.