Patient Choice and Consumerism in Healthcare: Only a Mirage of Wishful Thinking?

Abstract

To ensure sustainable development in health care systems and to bring about workable ideas which are widely accepted, there must be dialogue and collaboration between highly diverse stakeholder groups, such as medical practi- tioners, managers and administrators as well as health care policy makers and patients and their families. However, diversity between these actors requires meth- odologies that enable the participants working on change and development pro- cesses together. It is important to understand each other’s work situations, demands and constraints to collaborate on future ideas. Therefore, we suggest a so-called serious play methodology which combines tool-kit based modelling using LEGO® building blocks and story-telling to foster the development of shared understand- ings between different stakeholders. In an empirical example of a system develop- ment process between health care practitioners in Japan, we describe and discuss the application of this methodology.