Complementary medicine at Zollikerberg Hospital: A complement to cancer treatment – Morgen:Rapport

In health research, the questions asked often fail to address patients’ needs. One key way to change this is to involve patients and their experiential knowledge more closely in research. Nevertheless, genuine participation is still far from being the norm.

The body and mind are closely linked, as is clearly demonstrated by cancer: those affected suffer from far more than just physical symptoms. Feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and a search for meaning are common themes. Psycho-oncological support can therefore provide crucial assistance to those affected – and this can also have an impact on their treatment.

Having a say or merely having a voice? Involved or simply ‘consulted’? Hardly anyone has anything against participation – especially in the healthcare sector, where, as is well known, patients take centre stage. And yet it is often difficult to truly live up to the expectation of participation. Why is that? What approaches to genuine participation exist, and what do they entail? And which successful models from abroad could inspire Switzerland, so that patient involvement becomes the norm here too?