About shared expertise

Utilising each other’s expertise is an important part of the partnership with the patient.

Shared expertise involves utilising the patient’s expertise about themselves and their situation as well as the professionals’ expertise in diagnostics, healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation. The partnership builds on the ability to share information with each other and to make decisions together on the basis of this information.

Professionals are able to diagnose an illness and are also able to describe how it usually develops and which treatment has proved most effective. However, it is the patient who experiences the symptoms and the treatment and how it actually affects them and their relatives. It is the patient who knows what they require in order to be able to live the life they want to live.

It is not unusual for patients to feel subordinate when coming into contact with the health and social care system. In order to avoid this and achieve a partnership, we must first give the patient confidence in us. We can build confidence with the aid of non-verbal communication, for example how we look at someone, touch someone, our body language and the tone of voice we use. But of course, the choice of words also matters a great deal – that what we say is comprehensible and clear. It also builds confidence when we ask questions and show that the patient’s experience and wishes are important.

Everyone is different. Some patients know a lot about their illness while others do not know anything about what is happening to them right now or what they can expect to happen in the future. Some individuals find it easy to express themselves. Others find it near to impossible due to cognitive and linguistic difficulties. And there are some that do not want to share at all. The objective is to understand what each patient is able to do and wants to do in order to adapt how we approach them. When we work in a person-centred way, we must also try to understand the wishes of someone who is unable to communicate.

In health and social care there are different prerequisites for building confidence and utilising the patient’s expertise. Professionals must find various ways of establishing a partnership. However, one prerequisite is that the team works together closely and shares knowledge and understanding of the patient between themselves.