The recommendations aim to increase patient participation and health literacy by strengthening the role of patient education in medical rehabilitation. Research shows patient education to be effective and efficient; making the implementation of high quality patient education a top priority. To strengthen the role of patient education it is important to address known obstacles, identify potential for improvement, and define future demands for rehabilitative care. Led by the German Society for Medical Rehabilitation (DEGEMED), the Centre for Patient Education at the Würzburg University, and the Institute for Quality Management and Clinical Audit in Medical Rehabilitation (IQEM) an inter- and multidisciplinary panel of 28 experts from research and practice developed recommendations to further patient education in medical rehabilitation. The recommendations address topics such as the implementation of legal requirements under book IX of the German Social Code, SGB 9, structural and organisational prerequisites to promote the importance of patient education in rehabilitation units, the incorporation of quality criteria for patient education in quality assurance, quality management, and certification, as well as networking between medical rehabilitation and other health care sectors.
Conclusion: Providers of medical rehabilitation hold the power to strengthen patient education: by implementing patient education programmes that are well-evaluated, manual-based, and standardised, by providing sufficient resources within their institutions, and by placing patient education in the centre of their quality policy, i.e. by nomination of a patient education representative. Stakeholders need to acknowledge these activities by incorporating quality criteria for patient education in clinical audit, and last but not least by adequate funding of medical rehabilitation.
(c) Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart, New York.