The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7437 p143-146
3 February 2007

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The informed patient: friend or foe?

Like the use of the internet, the informed patient is a growing phenomenon. In this article, Marjorie Weiss looks at how pharmacists can deal with them

Continuing professional development articles

SUMMARY

Although GPs remain a common source of health information for patients, people also use a range of other sources, such as the internet, leaflets, books, newspapers and magazines, nurses, pharmacists, family and friends.

The changing attitude towards patients within the UK health care system — illustrated by Government initiatives, such as the Expert Patients Programme — and the increased access to information (eg, on the world wide web) have made it easier for patients to take more responsibility for their health and have prompted them to ask more questions.

It is estimated that 32 per cent of Europeans and 53 per cent of Americans search the internet for health information, with websites becoming as important as non-internet sources for health information. This knowledgeable patient-consumer, the “informed patient”, has become a fact of modern life and, given that younger people are more likely to access the internet than older people, this phenomenon is unlikely to diminish in the coming decades. Health care professionals need to recognise that patients want more information and are prepared to search for it.

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