EAU25 Patient Day: Harnessing key insights and unique dialogue between healthcare professionals and patients
A report from the EAU Patient Office
Patient Day kicked off at 8:30am this morning, the 21st of March, with six of our selected candidates for best Patient Poster presenting their work. All of our candidates this year presented fascinating and high-quality work on unique subjects, with Katharina Beyer taking first place for her poster ‘Empowering choices: Insights from healthcare professionals on shared decision-making’. Well done to Katharina!
Katharina’s work on shared decision-making nicely tied into our first roundtable discussion: ‘Shared Decision-Making in action: Enhancing urology practice together’. The session explored how Shared Decision-Making (SDM) strengthens the doctor-patient relationship and can greatly influence a patients’ quality of life. The session delved into the finer details around the creation of a new SDM module tool designed to help clinicians make the most of their limited consultation time whilst empowering patients.
Between running from the Patient Plaza theatre and the Patient Day room, the Patient Office enjoyed prominent spaces around the Congress Venue to showcase all of our achievements and advertise the Patient Day sessions.
Increased PCa risk for black men
The next roundtable was one of our most hotly anticipated sessions on the increased risk of prostate cancer for black patients. The increased risk of prostate cancer in black men was discussed by a diverse panel, where historic mistrust in the medical community was highlighted as one of the reasons as to the reluctance of black patients to undergo screening and PSA testing.
Professor James N’Dow eloquently unravelled another key issue around prostate cancer care for black men with his powerful statement: “We need to focus firstly on black men as individuals. Just because we’re black, it doesn’t mean we’re all the same. Personalisation of healthcare is very important. Don’t put us all in the same box’’.
N’Dow utilised the example of how he and fellow colleagues have roots from vastly different countries and cultures in Africa, yet are still often conflated by healthcare professionals as having the same genetic make-up, which isn’t true. He lastly emphasised the importance of black representation in data for clinical trials, in order to unpack differences and similarities of the health profiles of black patients.
The lively Q&A session flowed nicely into our next roundtable of the day: ‘What would you change today in your office to have a better urology practice tomorrow?’ This session opened up a dialogue around difficult questions, such as what makes a good patient, and what makes a good doctor? Communication styles can greatly impact the patient-doctor relationship, and so different insights from patients, doctors and nurses allowed for a fruitful discourse that was complemented with multiple perspectives.
Patient Day came to a close with its Chair, Prof. Eamonn Rogers presenting on the Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) study for Overactive Bladder, as well as examining why patients don’t often adhere to their treatment plans for OAB. Prof. Rogers concluded with the statement:
“The EAU’s commitment to patient empowerment was further enhanced today, as we witnessed excellent and impactful presentations by patients during Patient Day. The level of insightful discussions proves the work we do is truly invaluable. However, there is still more to be done!”
We look forward to seeing all of our progress come the 2026 Congress in London!