Protocol for establishing and evaluating a public and patient panel for organisation science and management principles in healthcare

Introduction Patient and public involvement (PPI) has not been used to its full potential when examining the organisational science and management principles side of healthcare. With more and more acknowledgement of the relationship between management tools and patient outcomes, having meaningful engagement with the patient and the public in conducting research with the potential to enhance the patient experience, has never been more important. This study aims to outline the process in identifying members for a PPI for the organisational science and management principles side of healthcare, as well as providing guidelines for the establishment of PPIs in this nascent field. In addition, it aims to produce a charter for the panel, by and with the panel members, ensuring they are involved at every stage of research. Methods and analysis A hybrid of both a priority-setting and partnership approach to PPI will provide guidance on identifying, recruiting and establishing a PPI for research on the organisational science and management principles in healthcare. The panel will consist of approximately 20 members including patients, members of the public and researchers. A World Café approach to panel workshops will be adopted to produce a charter for the group. An assessment of panel engagement will be conducted through analysis of records of the meetings/workshops, as well as one-to-one interviews with all panel members at key points in time. Assessment criteria will be agreed with all members of the PPI panel. Data will be transcribed and managed using NVivo through a thematic analysis. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for the evaluation of the PPI has been received from the Kemmy Business School's Ethics Committee. Papers outlining the process in establishing a PPI in the area of organisational science and management principles of healthcare, and the results of the assessment of the panel's engagement will be published in journals.