EMPOWERING PEOPLE WITH RHEUMATIC AND MUSCULOSKELETAL DISEASES TO BE AT THE HEART OF MEDICAL EDUCATION: A EULAR SCHOOL OF RHEUMATOLOGY INITIATIVE

Background:The earliest examples of active patient involvement in teaching are interventions in which the patient was teaching students how to conduct physical examinations. Over the last two decades, educators have used the expertise of patients to enrich the education of undergraduate physicians and health professionals (HP) in several ways, mainly asking people to outline their own stories. Early patient involvement also aims to sensitise students to pursue a holistic approach and ultimately to build a trustful physician-patient relationship. Most studies report that high patient involvement brings benefits to both learners and patients. Learners report higher satisfaction. Patients report raised self-esteem and empowerment, new insights into their problems and deeper understanding of the physician-patient relationship.Objectives:To develop a novel educational framework within the EULAR School of Rheumatology for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) who are willing to be involved in teaching undergraduate physicians and HPs (Patient Education Partners, PEPs).Methods:A multidisciplinary working group including people with RMDs, 1 Rheumatologist, 1 HP in rheumatology and 1 educationalist was established. The project was developed through a questionnaire launched in May 2019, to patient associations across Europe, 2 face to face meetings and online teleconferences.Results:Patient associations from 23 European countries responded to the questionnaire and in 10 of them (43%), there have been programmes running for up to 31 years which involve patients with RMDs in undergraduate education. To some extent, 485 people with RMDs have been trained over the years across Europe. However, there are different country and disease-specific types of training and a lack of standardised training for patients involved in these programs. The patient associations from countries that do not have the programme would be interested in taking part, if such initiative were to be developed. The topics that people would like to cover when teaching medical and other health professions students are: disease specific factors, doctor-patient communication, personal history and physical examination, the importance of education and work to the individual, the importance of disease self-management. A subsequent mapping of European countries was undertaken to identify best practice examples of existing programmes: Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and the UK were included. From these foundations, we developed a new on-line Course, to equip patients with a basic medical knowledge about their disease and effective communication strategies.Conclusion:We established a European framework to train people with RMDs who were willing to be involved in teaching undergraduate physicians and HPs. This will allow them to gain confidence and effective communication skills to share their lived experience and become PEPs. The content of the course is currently being developed and all EULAR pillars are involved. Participation in this training course, particularly by people from countries that do not yet engage patients in undergraduate education, may facilitate the implementation of such initiatives, and ultimately improve the training of physicians and HPs across Europe.References:[1]Wykurz G et al. BMJ 2002;325:818[2]Walters K et al. BMJ 2003;326:740Disclosure of Interests:None declared