Trialogue

TRIALOGUE: Developing a Consumer - Peer/Family - Professional Team Leadership Model in Health Care

Communication between consumers, family members, and health professionals can be difficult in everyday practice. Dissatisfaction of consumers with mainstream medicine originates in poor communication. Non-compliance, the lack of adherence to medical treatment recommendations, difficulties encountered in chronic symptom management, and the problem of medical malpractice and litigation point at unsolved relationship and communication problems in medicine. Differences in language and terminology, perspectives, and interests create communication barriers that result in poor collaborations and outcomes.

Creating partnerships between consumer groups and professionals have potential for reducing barriers and for increasing sustainability and positive outcomes. The collaboration can utilize the strengths of all partners and result in benefits to professionals, the consumers and the community as a whole.

Health-"Trialogue" is an Open Forum that allows a dialogue between consumers, family members and peers, and health care professionals. In the Trialogue Forums consumers, their family members or friends, professionals and interested individuals come together to discuss critical issues and share stories with the help of a trained facilitator.

Health-"Trialogue" embraces the following values:

• Self-determination
• Sharing responsibility
  
• Empowering relationships based on trust, understanding, and respect
  
• Meaningful roles in society
  
• Elimination of stigma, discrimination, and disparities

In this grassroot community process open and honest encounters allow community building and the development of new solutions for health care teams and systems. Trialogue bridges the perceived gap between consumers, health care professionals, and the public.

GOAL: A Consumer - Peer/Family - Professional Team-Led Transformation from an Expert System to a Partnership and Leadership System

Objective: Transform the system to one based on a partnership and leadership culture through a consumer/peer/family-led Leadership Initiative.

Empowerment, hope, and self-determination are repeatedly cited as the keys to people's recovery. The current institutional medical culture, with its overemphasis on expert knowledge, is actually interfering with recovery. Trialogue with its Team Leadership Model seeks a fundamental transformation of the culture in medicine to a system based on consumer autonomy, shared decision making and responsibility, and improved communication.

"Nobody is listening to us. Nobody cares." Says Brabara who suffers from chronic pain.

"We are burned out from balancing patient needs, limited time, and money." Says Peter a primary care physician.

"Limited funds, unlimited demands." Says Jan who works for an insurance company.

"We can't take care of everybody's needs." Says John a local business owner.