A new report has outlined the need to bridge the gap between patients and the medical industry for a more beneficial, effective system of prescribing.
N=1: Why people matter in medicine has been published by a subgroup of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Medicines Forum and highlights the part that patient understanding and belief plays in determining whether or not a medicine is taken as advised, or even taken at all.
The report, based on consultations held over a period of 11 months with representatives of patient groups, specialists and views of the RCP’s patient and carer network, makes particular reference to the need for healthcare professionals to use ‘patient terms’ and real life language. The authors note that ‘conversations need to be derived from what the public wants and needs to know about medicines and their effects – not from what professionals want to tell them.’
The report highlights that there is often uncertainty about what is available to the public in terms of life-changing therapeutic products and what modern medicine is actually able to offer.
A key recommendation of the report is that GPs should be able to refer patients with medication problems to a pharmacist adviser who can also be used as a source of advice for both patients and GPs on medication related issues.
Other practical recommendations in the report focus on more effective engagement, service improvement and improving research for the benefit of the public.
Harry Cayton, chair of the subgroup and chief executive of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, said:
Medicines used well do a huge amount of good. Medicines misused, mis-prescribed or misunderstood are either ineffective or harmful.
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about how medicines work and how they should be used. People’s beliefs about medicines have an enormous and underestimated impact on their use of them in practice.
Professor Tim Evans, academic vice-president of the RCP, said:
The overall message of this report is that the value of effective use of medicines will not be realised merely by doing more of the same.
We need a change in approach that relates medicines use to people’s daily lives, acknowledges the importance of concerns about unwanted effects, and radically changes the way we communicate about medicines and information we provide.