Behaviour Programmesneeded information on disease and medication. Moreover, overthe course of the pilot project we have been noticing that manypatients frequently ask for additional educational and trainingmaterials. Some of them also said that they often share theeducational content with their friends and family.All patients said that they receive information concerningtheir disease and drugs from their doctor. Roughly 80% ofparticipants also look up relevant information on the internet,while a small percentage obtains information from books,leaflets and/or other patients suffering from the same disease.According to research, doctors overestimate the amount ofinformation they provide to their patients and underestimatethe amount of information patients actually want 5 . Duringdoctor’s visits, a mean of 49 seconds was spent discussing allaspects of newly-prescribed medications 6 .Our findings highlight how crucial the doctor’s role can be ineducating his or her patients. By extension, a personal point-ofcarethat contains educational materials can lead to a decreasein the doctor’s office workload and eliminate the possibilitythat paatients forget or misunderstand a specific piece ofinformation. Most importantly, these materials are selected andapproved by the treating doctor; no more hearsay and dubiousinformation of questionable value.Some findings on patient beliefs are contradictory as well. Thepatients believe that their doctor chose them to participate in theproject based on their familiarity with technology and their positivepre-existing personal relationship. On the other hand, when thedoctors were asked what their criteria were for registering a patientfor the pilot project, the answers we received were quite different.The doctors chose each participant based mostly on his or herhealth condition, low compliance rates and age.Regarding the medication reminder system, 50% of patientsstated that they use mobile phone reminders (mostly patientsaged between 30 and 50). 33% said that they use no remindersand just rely on memory, while 16% use a printed calendar.About 85% of patients expect that a personal point-of-carewill significantly help in reminding them when to take theirmedication.Apart from obtaining information and receiving reminders,some other expectations the patients had are presented inTable 2:Doctors have more or less similar expectations, but believethat such a personal point-of- care will help them in retrievingand analysing important data as well. According to our findings,patients were worried mostly about the progression of theirdisease and their therapy’s outcome. A high number of patientsalso stated that they have to take too many drugs.Roughly 80% of the patients have no contact at all withpatient groups and related health organisations. Underlyingreasons vary. What a personal point-of-care could do is bridgethe gap between patients and associated groups via a constantflow of information and messages (e.g. announcements,newsletters, bulletins).A statement coming from one of the patients vividly sumsup his experience of using his personal point-of-care: “We havebecome inseparable”.Changing LivesIn the words of Heraclitus, it is in changing that we find purpose.Very often people avoid change because they do not know howto go about it; a well-designed personal point-of-care can showthem the way. As we move forward, technology becomes moreand more involved in our lives, resulting in the emergence ofnew needs and new ideas. A personal point-of-care will enablehealthcare providers to render better patient managementand pass crucial messages to their patients in order to achievebehaviour changes. Employing the right approach, the rightpeople and the right tools, we will be there to effectively coverthose needs.References1. McDonald HP, Garg AX and Haynes RB. Interventions to enhance patient adherenceto medication prescriptions: scientific review. JAMA. 2002;288:2868–79.2. Haynes RB, Ackloo E, Sahota N, McDonald HP and Yao X. Interventions forenhancing medication adherence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16:CD000011.3. Heisler M, Bouknight R, Hayward R, Smith D and Kerr E. The Relative Importanceof Physician Communication, Participatory Decision Making, and PatientUnderstanding in Diabetes Self-management. J Gen Intern Med. 2002 April;17(4): 243–252.4. Skeels M, Kurth A, Clausen M, Severynen A, and Garcia-Smith H. CARE+ UserStudy: Usability and Attitudes Towards a Tablet PC Computer Counseling Tool forHIV+ Men and Women. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2006; 2006: 729–733.5. Street RL Jr. Information-giving in medical consultations: the influence ofpatients’ communicative styles and personal characteristics. Soc Sci Med. 1991;32(5):541-8.6. Tarn DM, Paterniti DA, Kravitz RL, Heritage J, Liu H, Kim S, Wenger NS. How muchtime does it take to prescribe a new medication? Patient Educ Couns. 2008 Aug;72(2):311-9. Epub 2008 Apr 11.Zoe Tziakou, Operations Manager, PCCHELLAS. Zoe has been dealing with patientadherence management problems andsolutions on a daily basis. She has beenan active participant in the design andmanagement of patient adherenceprograms carried out by PCC HELLAS,supervises all personnel involved in patient support, and receivesdaily feedback from patients and healthcare professionals.Email: ztzi@pccint.euConstantina Georgaki, ClinicalPsychologist, PCC HELLAS. Constantinais involved in the development andimplementation of patient adherenceinterventions for populations facing avariety of health conditions. She is alsoinvolved in the patient support centre,conducting one-to-one communication with patients andcaregivers. Her other areas of special interest include relaxationtraining and crisis intervention. Email: dgeo@pccint.eu26 Journal For Patient Compliance Strategies to enhance Adherence and Health OutcomesVolume 2 - Issue 4
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