Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of North America’s most preventable non-communicable diseases and is the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. It is important that the care that is delivered to these patients is equitable, to help ensure that external social factors are not hindering their ability to receive adequate health care and successfully self-manage their disease. Patient engagement addresses the practitioner-patient relationship with the aim of increasing patient involvement in making decisions about their health care. This review was conducted to determine how patient engagement has been used in the delivery of equitable care for patients with COPD, including identifying best practices in the delivery of care to improve health outcomes. A search was conducted on Scopus, PubMed, and the Nursing and Allied Health database. Title and abstract results were briefly scanned, and articles that mentioned one to three of the main concepts—”COPD,” “patient engagement,” and “equitable healthcare”—were selected for full-text screening. Twenty-five articles were selected. Data extraction was done using a matrix, and data analysis was done thematically. Four main themes were identified and reported on. The impact of health inequities on patients with COPD is quite significant. Socioeconomic and environmental inequities appear to be the most significant contributors, highlighting the need for an approach that facilitates equitable healthcare delivery for these patients. Engagement strategies should consider whether enough perspectives are represented and ensure that patients are supported in sharing their stories. In addition, healthcare professionals should consider the perspective and experiences of their patients, while considering that they receive better care when clinicians listen to patients and acknowledge social determinants of health. Approaches to the delivery of equitable care should not focus on self-management and personal factors but take a social determinants of health approach.