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    Educational Design (including Adult Learning Principles)

    Intermediate

    Process Improvement & Change Management

    Healthcare Systems

    Bringing Patients to the Table: Effective Approaches for CE Program Planners

    Tuesday, February 17, 2026
    11:15 AM - 12:15 PM EST
    Location: Centennial 2
    Incorporating the patient voice into CE is increasingly recognized as critical to building relevant, resonant programming. However, many CE professionals still lack a clear, replicable path for how to do it effectively. This session is designed for new and intermediate CE planners and is grounded in a case study: the development and implementation of the Pain Patient Forum, a two-part podcast series featuring patients living with various pain conditions alongside healthcare professionals.

    In this peer-to-peer learning session built on what worked for us, we’ll share the structure of our program, including how we selected the topics and format, recruited and prepared both patient and HCP faculty, collaborated on content, and ultimately evaluated the program’s success. Participants will review full outcomes from the first podcast series, including changes in learner confidence and competence, as well as early data and process reflections from the second series, launching in late 2025.

    This session provides a clear roadmap for getting started, navigating common pitfalls, and building sustainable, inclusive programming.

    Participants will leave with five key strategies to apply in their own work:


    1. How to select topics and formats that naturally align with patient inclusion and their current educational priorities.

    2. How to recruit and prepare patient and HCP faculty for meaningful collaboration.

    3. How to structure programs that center the patient voice without overburdening it.

    4. How to build psychological safety into your planning and facilitation process.

    5. How to measure the impact of patient inclusion—not just overall outcomes.

    The session is highly interactive, with multiple opportunities for audience Q&A, guided self-reflection, and small-group discussion. Each segment of the session is designed to help attendees apply these strategies to their own organization and build a first draft of a future patient-inclusive activity.

    Learning Objectives:

    • Identify at least one topic area within their organization where inclusion of the patient voice would enhance the educational value of the CE activity.
    • Describe three components of a successful strategy for recruiting and preparing both patient and HCP faculty.
    • Draft a preliminary plan to integrate the patient voice into a future CE activity, including format selection, faculty support, and evaluation considerations.