Patient advocate

A patient advocate is an independent and mostly voluntary contact person for the patients in a hospital .

tasks

A patient advocate is a patient advocate. He receives requests, criticism or praise and tries to mediate with the responsible departments of the hospital if necessary.

A patient advocate is independent of instructions and not an employee of the hospital. He is subject to confidentiality and may only pass on information entrusted to him with the consent of the patient.

Legal basis

In most federal states, his appointment is regulated in the hospital law. Its task is to "clarify the patient's concerns in an unbureaucratic manner on site and thus eliminate deficiencies for the benefit of the patient". In North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Saarland and Berlin, every hospital is required to have an independent patient advocate.

Accessibility and free of charge

A patient advocate usually offers consultation hours in the clinic itself or in the vicinity. If a patient is unable to contact the patient advocate personally, he or she can do so through a trusted friend. "Visits to the sick" are also possible on site for bedridden patients. Often, a lack of knowledge about the existence of such a contact point prevents contact.

The patient advocates are volunteers and can receive compensation from the hospital. It is free of charge for patients.

historical development

Patients can easily feel lost and at the mercy of the hospital as an institution. If tensions arise, the additional involvement of a third person who can clear up misunderstandings in advance and contribute to the de-escalation has proven itself . The position of patient advocate emerged from informal beginnings in the 1980s.

Other hospitals followed suit, also due to changes in legal requirements. In the meantime, a patient advocate is not uncommon at the approximately 2,000 clinics in Germany; in Berlin alone there are 76 (as of 2015).

The professional background of the patient advocate does not necessarily have a previous connection to the hospital; in addition to former doctors, green women and nurses, retired public prosecutors and pastors are also involved. A federal association ( BPiK, Federal Association of Patient Advocates in Hospitals ) has existed since 2015 , in which 130 patient advocates are organized nationwide.

See also

• Patient representation (organized representation of the interests of patients in the healthcare sector)

literature

• Georg Margret: Report on the situation of patient advocates in Berlin (an inventory from 2001 using questionnaires, one-on-one interviews, evaluations of annual reports and minutes)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berlin Patient Advocate Day 2015 . ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Federal Ministry of Health , March 16, 2015 
2. ↑ Patient advocate §8 Saarland Hospital Act, accessed on September 17, 2015
3. ↑ Little known volunteer work in the hospital . Eifelzeitung, September 16, 2015
4. ^ Public prosecutor now clinic arbitrator . Picture , September 16, 2015
5. ↑ An advocate for the patient . Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , May 30, 2015
6. ↑ Always on the side of the patient . Der Tagesspiegel , March 16, 2015
7. ↑ Cologne Patient Advocate Working Group , accessed on October 5, 2015.
8. ^ Essener founds federal association for patient advocates . Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , March 26, 2015