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Consumers
Want High Quality Information
Consumers
want to be informed about their medical treatments. They
are searching for information on drugs everywhere from newspapers
to the Internet. The barrier that consumers face is that
there is a lot of bad information in the marketplace. It
is not clinically accurate, is not translated into language
that people can understand, is incomplete or biased and
is presented in formats that make it very difficult for
people to read.
Another barrier is that consumers
do not know what type of services to expect from health
professionals nor the questions to ask about their medications.
People do not ask questions when they feel they don't know
enough about the subject...in this case medications. This
is an age-old problem and affects all of us. Some of us
do not ask our insurance agents or stockbrokers questions
because we don't know what to ask. Many parents do
not ask teachers questions about their child's education
because they assume the teacher is a professional and "knows
everything." This certainly does not mean consumers
are stupid. They just need some guidance and background
information so they are better informed.
We need to make it easier and
"safer" for patients to ask questions about their
drugs. People need to know the questions to ask and have
the confidence to ask them. Click
to read about "Steps Consumers Can Take to Be Informed
About Their Medicines".
Don't
Settle for Just a Sheet of Written Instructions
Patients need to be included as important
members of the "medication management team." They
need information that will allow them to assume management
of their drug therapies. Patients need this information
explained to them in person...not just handed to them as
on a sheet of written instructions.
A consumer should never accept a
sheet of written instructions without having it explained
to them first. Written instruction sheets do serve a purpose
- they can serve as a reminder aid once the person returns
home but should NEVER be used to replace individualized
counseling of the doctor and pharmacist.
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