Patient information needs patients
Mark Duman is a pharmacist and freelance communications consultant
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Mark Duman says that whether patient information is supplied before or after a prescription is received, it is quality that counts
Sources of information
Encyclopaedias
• ‘British Medical Association’s concise guide to medicines
and drugs’, Dorling Kindersley, June 2001
• ‘A–Z of medicinal drugs’, Oxford University
Press, October 2003
• ‘Medicines: a guide for everybody’, Penguin Books,
August 2003
Leaflets
• The Doctor Patient Partnership (DPP) produces a range of leaflets,
some service-based, some more medical (Tavistock House, Tavistock
Square, London WC1 9J, tel 020 7383 6803, www.dpp.org.uk)
• PharmacyHealthLink produces a range of information leaflets mainly
on health promotion topics (Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth
High Street, London SE1 7JN, tel 020 7572 2265, www.rpsgb.org.uk)
Touch screen
• Healthpoint Technologies provide health and lifestyle information
for pharmacy customers through touch screen computers (Daws House,
33–35 Daws Lane, London NW7 4SD, tel 0870 011 6008, www.healthpointtech.com)
• Intouch with Health develops health information kiosks which
are situated in a number of health care settings (Preston Mill
Barn, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6ET, tel 01285 657516, www.intouchwithhealth.co.uk)
Websites
• www.bnf.org — the electronic British National Formulary
• www.channel4.co.uk/health — information on drugs and alcohol
• www.emc.vhn.net — the electronic Medicines Compendium
• www.hsis.org — facts about health supplementation
• www.medicdirect.co.uk/med_cabinet — medicines information
• www.medicine-chest.co.uk — a directory of OTC medicines
and food supplements
• www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/ — 3000 products reviewed
• www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk — new medicines content will be released
during Ask About Medicines Week |
Sources of expertise
Association of Information Officers in the
Pharmaceutical Industry is the professional organisation for individuals in the industry
who are involved in the provision and management of medical information
(www.aiopi.org.uk)
Consumation is a consultancy specialising in health information
design and improving patient information within the pharmaceutical
industry (david.dickinson@consumation.com)
Consumers’ Association has
recently produced a wide-ranging report on the provision of information
about medicines,
therapies
and illnesses in the UK. Available here
Department of Health has produced a toolkit for producing patient
information (www.doh.gov.uk/nhsidentity)
Plain English Campaign produces a guide to writing medical information
(www.plainenglish.co.uk)
King’s Fund has published ‘Producing patient information:
how to research, develop and produce effective information resources’.
It offers a step-by-step guide to each stage of the information
process (www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications).
Promoting Excellence in Consumer Medicines
Information is a multidisciplinary
group of people with a mission to improve consumer medicines information
through lobbying activity and sharing best practice (www.pecmi.org) |
In the past, patients have been passive recipients of medicines information.
But today there is a wealth of information available (see Panels) to
help patients become partners in taking, or indeed not taking, medicines.
With such a wealth of information, patients surely have more than enough
resources to engage in concordance? That depends upon the quality of
the information they are receiving, and it is only recently that medicines
information has begun to receive the attention it deserves. Patients
want their medicines information set in a context of understanding more
about the condition that is being treated. They want to know what other
treatment options exist including complementary and alternative therapies.
Developing good medicines information should adhere to a number of key
principles, the first of which is patient involvement. Most, if not all,
consumer goods undergo extensive consumer testing before hitting the
market. Why should patient information be any different? It is not a
case of producing an information resource and waving it in front of a
few colleagues before mass production. Involving patients has to occur
throughout the process from defining what goes into the information,
through prototyping and even to reviewing it after a year or so. Stop
and think about what questions your patients have been asking you. Have
these changed over recent years? Do the information sources that you
use answer their questions?
Access to information is the next principle. Information should be available
in a variety of formats for people with disabilities and for people whose
first language is not English. How accessible is the information rack
on your premises? How clearly signposted is it?
Information can answer patients’ questions and be accessible without
necessarily being understandable. A number of tools exist for appraising
the quality of patient information. That most relevant to pharmacy is
SPLASH (Survey of pharmacy leaflets — a self-help guide) which
was developed by Health Promotion Wales in 1996. (A new edition is planned
for 2003.) Available here,
SPLASH is designed to help pharmacists appraise and choose the most helpful
information leaflets to use in their pharmacy. The SPLASH test assesses
the key points that ensure a leaflet “works”, keeps the reader’s
attention and is easily understood. It assesses the content of leaflets,
how they are written and how well they have been designed and illustrated.
Organisations that appraise patient information include the Centre for
Health Information Quality (www.chiq.org/chiq)
which has developed the “Hi
Quality” tool (www.hiquality.org.uk)
Those who attain CHIQ’s
appropriate level of quality can be awarded the “Triangle mark” and
work is afoot to apply this scheme to information throughout the NHS.
Another appraisal organisation is the Plain English Campaign, which awards
the “Crystal mark” for well written information.
Its important to stress that information is a complement to, not a substitute
for, verbal communication with health care professionals. Information
should contain contact details of relevant organisations, such as local
self-help groups and pharmacies. This enables patients to discuss their
concerns with additional parties and obtain all important second opinions.
So next time one of your patients asks for information, you can tell
them where to go.
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