Initiative Patient 2014 – The winners have been chosen!
22.12.2014 20:00
The call for public participation in health care decision-making is not new. With the help of preference studies, the patient perspective can be taken into account in decision-making processes in healthcare. Against this background, the Patient Initiative initiated a health award to promote the documentation of patient preferences. The Patient Initiative seeks to generate evidence about the priorities and needs of (potential) patients together with students, scientists and self-help groups.
On Friday, December 12, 2014, this year's winners of the “Initiative Patient” were honored. The award ceremony took place as part of the second joint symposium under the direction of Prof. Dr. Axel Mühlbacher (Neubrandenburg University).
The jury, composed of Prof. Dr. Thomas Kohlmann (University of Greifswald), Prof. Dr. Peter Doubt (University of Zurich) and Prof. Dr. Axel Mühlbacher (Neubrandenburg University) evaluated all submissions and came to the following verdict:
Special award for self-help groups: Student Maresa Buchholz, who received the special award for self-help groups in cooperation with the self-help sleep apnea Mecklenburger Seenplatte, deserves special mention. “An article about the preferences of patients with sleep apnea and their relevance for the healthcare system” examined the question of which properties of ventilation therapy promote or inhibit adherence to therapy and attempted to derive possible preference-based recommendations. The findings of the excellently developed concept could be taken into account when designing alternative therapies, thereby increasing the improvement in health and quality of life.
Master's students Svenja Schiel and Steven Müller won first place. They asked themselves the question “Which criteria do the citizens of the city of Neubrandenburg prefer when choosing their family doctor?” with the aim of supporting and expanding the precarious family doctor situation in rural areas and the efforts of needs planning through the perspective and preferences of the citizens . To determine preferences, the two students used the method of a discrete choice experiment and surveyed 100 participants. The concept impressively presented the five essential characteristics for choosing a family doctor: waiting time; Reachability; Gender of the doctor, treatment time and consultation hours.
Second place went to the group of authors Nadine Schubert and Heike Viethen, who examined the previously little-noticed clinical picture of lipedema/liplymedema using a Germany-wide representative survey on health-related quality of life. The extensive data collection took place in the form of an online survey using rankings and qualitative questions. The results of the N=642 participants clearly show the importance of lipedema on everyday life and the quality of life of those affected, with the occurrence of the symptoms during professional practice and during specialist visits being proven to be particularly stressful for patients.
Julian Schwarz was happy about third place. In a qualitative survey study he conducted interviews with affected patients to find out whether the counseling services offered in a community psychiatric center meet the needs of the users or not. The highly interesting project about a model of psychiatric care in Northern Germany is currently still being implemented. However, initial results already show that those affected criticize the lack of visibility or accessibility of the community psychiatric center, whereas they are very satisfied with the advice they receive, both professionally and in terms of results.
The prize was awarded by Prof. Dr. Mühlbacher initiated and financed by the following companies and associations: AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, AstraZeneca GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG and Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie e. v.
The Patient Initiative once again congratulates all award winners, thanks all other participants and looks forward to exciting contributions for 2015.