The IT in Society Class has a topic provided by Region Uppsala each year, and this year the topic is around the implementation of Patient Contracts. This means that around 20 engineering students will work with this topic from several perspectives in a joint course. This is a “hot” topic and the hospital has set aside time for several of their key persons to be involved in the course in different roles, not least as guides for the areas of the Patient Contracts that will be covered this fall.
We are now happy to announce this years’ topic for the course: Patient contracts!
The government in Sweden and the regions responsible for health care have agreed to introduce Patient Contracts. The background is that despite the law that is called the Patient Act, which was introduced in 2015, and which was created to strengthen the patient’s position, there are still challenges. Care indeed needs to be more person-centered, not least for patients with several different and long-term contacts with health care.
The purpose of Patient Contracts is to ensure participation, coordination, accessibility and collaboration through a joint agreement between the patient and the care provider, based on the patient’s perspective. A Patient Contract is a way of ensuring the patient’s participation in their own health and care and supporting the patient to utilize their own resources. The content of the agreement should reflect what should happen in the healthcare contacts, when it should happen and who the patient should turn to. It should be clear both what the patient and the healthcare provider should do. In the first place, Patient contracts should be offered to patients with extensive and complex care needs.
Patient contracts are not a formal or legally binding contract, but rather an agreement that the care and the patient formulate together. It should support the relationship between the patient and the care, and it is based on collaboration and a shared responsibility. Patient contracts ensure that both patients and their relatives become involved in planning the care interventions. Participation means that the patient participates in decisions about care and treatment and also imparts knowledge and experience to employees in care. In the joint agreement it should be clear what the patient should do and what the care should do, it should be based on the patient’s possibilities and wishes.
You can read more about patient contracts in Swedish here: https://skr.se/halsasjukvard/kunskapsstodvardochbehandling/primarvardnaravard/patientkontrakt.28918.html
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