The organization offers a diverse range of opportunities for PWLE to partner, engage, and share input.
- Across our organization, what are the various ways we engage and partner with PWLE?
- How do we determine which engagement models will be the best fit for the purpose, scope, and participants of a given initiative?
- Which engagement models have been most impactful and why?
- Which engagement models have presented challenges and why?
Rebecca Esparza, a person with lived experience, discusses her experience of meaningful engagement opportunities.
- Design multiple and flexible opportunities to engage and partner with PWLE to ensure that the models chosen:
- Align with the specific purpose and timeline of the work
- Reflect available resources and organizational capacity
- Match the intended depth of influence PWLE will have in decision-making
- Offer a variety of engagement opportunities that allow individuals to participate in ways that best meet their needs, interests, expertise, and availability. While deeper, ongoing partnerships often yield greater shared benefit, lighter-touch opportunities can also create valuable avenues for participation–especially when they are part of an overall continuum of engagement activities.
- Within each “level of engagement” category (e.g., Informing, Consulting, Involving) from the Spectrum of Community Engagement, there are several specific opportunities for how PWLE can be engaged such as:
- Quality Improvement Initiatives
- Surveys & Interviews
- Listening Sessions
- Patient Journey Mapping
- Patient Safety Committees
- Co-Designing Programs
- Action Teams
- Population Health Programming
- Patient-Family Advisory Councils
- Operational Committees
- Webinar and Conference Presentations
- Co-authoring Publications
- Staff/Clinician Onboarding and Training
- Plan appropriately for your engagement activities. What it takes to create a new engagement opportunity will vary depending on what model is chosen and the organizational and community context. In general, deeper engagement, such as partnership and co-leadership, require more time and resources but are more likely to generate greater impact and mutual benefit for the organization and the PWLE who are involved.
- Before launching new engagement opportunities, assess what already exists both within the organization and across the community you serve. Creating a new advisory group or recruiting for a stand-alone engagement opportunity can be more difficult and resource intensive than building from existing engagement initiatives and relationships with community-based organizations and PWLE that are already in place.
- Conduct an organizational engagement inventory map of where, how, and with whom PWLE engagement is already taking place. Document existing engagement structures, areas of focus, and who leads and supports the work.
- Honor existing partnerships with community-based organizations, coalitions, and community groups. There are likely many advisory groups already being convened by other healthcare organizations, community-based organizations, and/or public/governmental agencies.
- Find existing groups through internet research and conversations with colleagues and others in the community.
- Once you identify other groups, reach out to the individuals who lead them.
- Schedule time to learn about the focus of the groups and/or attend a meeting.
- Be in ‘listening and learning mode’ as you first begin to build relationships with the leaders and members of these groups. As the relationship develops, you can explore opportunities for partnerships.
Community Care employs different approaches to engage plan members/PWLE.
“When we do a focus group, survey, or interview, we try to include individuals that may have been impacted by the intervention, the service, the program –whatever it is that we’re examining. And so sometimes our providers help us engage with these individuals. At other times, we have these existing boards, committees, steering committees, that have people with lived experience as members of those boards and committees. The content is very similar in giving their feedback, but yes, definitely two very different ways of engaging with people with lived experience.”
Stanford Health Care routinely presents to internal teams and departments across the health system to raise awareness about the role of their Patient-Family Advisory Committee (PFAC). They also encourage patient advisor recruitment and promote new opportunities for colleagues to engage with PFAC members. Click here to see their presentation deck.
