ABSTRACT
Patients and family members/caregivers are an integral part of everyday clinical work. Yet, for much of the modern era they were regarded as silent participants, with little to contribute to their care. Only recently have patients been considered knowledgeable or having the expertise to engage in self-management of chronic conditions. With experience and skills in problem detection, monitoring, mobilising resources and adapting to changing situations, patients may provide an untapped source for enhancing system resilience. Our thesis is that knowledge and expertise in health care are negotiated, distributed and communicated across multiple agents, including the patient and her family. We provide historical and contemporary conceptualisations of the role of the patient to ground our notion that patient expertise offers opportunities for resilience in health care as a joint cognitive system. Challenges and clinical implications are also discussed.
