Patient education in Dutch hospitals: The fruits of a decade of endeavors

Abstract

In this article a description is given of the development of the function of patient education coordinator in the Netherlands. In general, these developments have been successful. The differences in emphasis between the work of Dutch coordinators and those in the United States are discussed, set against the background of the Dutch health care system and its prevailing attitudes. Besides sketching the common elements which have proven to be successful ways of inducing organizational change, a description is given of a particularly successful project involving feedback from patients to medical specialists. This project succeeded in combining aspects of organizational change and the education of members of the medical staff in communication with patients; it might be useful for emulation by others. The article concludes by sketching changes in general political and cultural ideology and the way these changes affect the developments in patient education.