Many patients have conditions where they need to
take medication for the rest of their lives. Living with a chronic condition
can have a profound effect on a person's life, from a change in their lifestyle
to even being forced into an alternative career plan. Taking daily medications
becomes a part of their new routine and for many these treatments help improve
their health and their overall quality of life, but sometimes they can also
create other problems and patients may enter in to an ‘internal battle’ to take
them.
I am one of those
patients
At the age of 19, I felt my world had been
turned upside down when I received a diagnosis that I never expected and
initially really struggled to accept. I resented that I would have to rely on
medication for the rest of my life as well as the implications my new diagnosis
would have. However my attitude definitely changed as I gradually came to terms
with my condition, and realised that things were not as bad as I first thought!
My medications do more for me than just helping to keep me healthy and my condition under
control. They enable me to have the freedom to be
"normal" and go about my daily life without constantly worrying about
being unwell. They help me to stay out of hospital, to work, go on holiday and
make plans, and so for all of this I love them. I wonder how many people
can say they have something as powerful and positive in their lives.
However, a part of me hates them too for the
side effects that they come with. For many patients, a balancing act must be
achieved between finding the most effective dose but with the least amount of
side effects. Personally I feel switching feels risky when other medications aren't guaranteed to
be as effective and come with their own set of (often similar) side effects, and so
it can become a case of "better the devil you know".
I love them, but I
hate them
I feel lucky because I have a specialist who is
incredibly knowledgeable, and who takes the time to listen to my concerns and what
is important to me and involves me in decisions around my care. However he is a
busy consultant and it can be months in between seeing him, and what if I have
problems with my medication in the interim period?
Having recently increased one of my medications,
I found myself at the end of my tether struggling with side effects and felt pretty
miserable. I fleetingly flirted with the idea of stopping them for a few days
just so that I could have a respite from feeling unwell, and know that I am not
alone with this feeling. I am aware of the dangers associated with this and so
wouldn’t stop medication without appropriate medical supervision, but I can
definitely understand and empathise with people who feel pushed to this
extreme.
So what could help?
·
Patient information leaflets need to change and include more details. They often tell patients to get in touch with their doctor if they
have problems, but this often isn’t easy when clinics are frequently fully booked. GPs are commonly unable to
advise with specialist medications.
·
Signposting to patient friendly websites. In my view, the companies that manufacture the medications
prescribed to me by my doctors could add considerable value to their products
by pointing users to authoritative and evidence-based patient friendly websites
with more relevant and easily digestible information - or linking directly to
their own version of this. These need to offer general advice and support around disease management
as well as information about their medication.
·
Industry-led patient forums. Commonly
patients gravitate towards online forums to ask other people with the same
condition for their recommendations and experiences, but these often aren't
monitored or regulated and there can be huge differences in the accuracy and
helpfulness of information shared. Developing forums that are facilitated by
industry experts from within the medical and pharmaceutical industry could have
a significant positive impact and reach many people.
In my view, pharmaceutical companies could do
much more to support patients’ alongside what they already do in terms of educating
healthcare professionals. At Branding Science we work with our
clients to understand how patients really feel about their condition and their
medication, and what they want and need from their treatment. Ultimately we want
patients to really engage with their treatment and truly value the medicines
they use on the basis that those medicines are enabling them to have a better
quality of life sustained over a significant period of time. Ideally this kind
of patient/medicine relationship should lead to the development of brand
loyalty amongst patients and healthcare professionals alike and will contribute
towards the building of a deeper trust with the industry.
Email us at info@branding-science.com to discover
how we can help you to understand how patients really feel, and how you can
best support them and address their needs
This blog was written by Linzie Reason,
Marketing Communications Executive at Branding Science
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