Involvement of Patient and Family Representatives in Health-Care Job Interview Panels

Objectives:The involvement of patient and family representatives in job interview panels is sparsely documented. This studywas conducted at a newly established university hospital in Denmark. The aim was to identify different perspectives onattitudes and experiences associated with involving patient and family representatives in the recruitment process for seniorstaff. Furthermore, the aim was to highlight considerations and reservations related to the subsequent implementationprocess.Methods:Inspiration was drawn from formative evaluation research.Data Sources:Seventeen telephoneinterviews with applicants, 49 e-mail responses from staff, and unsolicited e-mails to the researcher.Analysis Strategy:Interpretive description.Results:Learnings from the study showed among other things that the participating staff experi-enced widespread skepticism before participation in the job interview panels, but their experience in the panels led them toconsider the patients’ and families’ input to be beneficial to the entire recruitment process. The considerations and reser-vations raised were divided into 5 themes.Conclusions:The results provide a relevant starting point to negotiate and refinethe aims of collective patient involvement related to a given situation—such as health-care recruitment processes