title: Public engagement in Ontario's hospitals--opportunities and challenges.
abstract: The Excellent Care for All Act strengthens the accountability of healthcare provider organizations to the public. However, the ways in which healthcare organizations have engaged the public have often been limited. There are a number of organizations and approaches described in this paper that have exceeded existing public governance and input processes by involving, engaging and partnering with the public. Their processes range from engaging with patients to improve the quality, safety and appropriateness of healthcare services to approaches that strengthen organizational decision making and strategic planning.
authors.affiliation: Member of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital and a PhD candidate at the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Born
authors.affiliation: Member of the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital; and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laupacis
mesh_terms: D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D006292:Health Priorities; D006302:Health Services Research; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011639:Public Opinion; D058996:Quality Improvement; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*