Title Involving patients in undergraduate health professions education: What’s in it for them? Abstract Objectives Patients have become more involved in research, policy, and health professions education. They are involved in teaching students competencies required for person-centred care, but patient benefits have not received proper attention. This exploratory study identifies how patient involvement in health professions education helps patients to practice self-management and shared decision-making.

Methods Individual interviews were conducted with patients (hereafter ‘experts by experience’) (N=11) who participated in the Patient As a Person Module, organised for health professions students in The Netherlands. Additionally, one of their healthcare professionals (N=10) and family members (N=9) were interviewed. Directed content analysis was used.

Results Participants reported that sharing lived experiences helped experts by experience to reflect on their preferences regarding health and healthcare, accept their changed selves, and obtain a renewed sense of purpose. They reported gaining insight into healthcare professionals' perspectives, which yielded more equal healthcare professional-patient relationships.

Conclusions Sharing their lived experiences with health and health care with students could help patients practise effective self-management and participate in shared decision-making.

Practice implications
Approaching patient involvement in health professions education from both the perspectives of students and experts by experience, as opposed to students alone, optimises its societal impact.

Data index All thirty transcripts as well as the coding are documented in one single file which can be opened in Atlas.ti.