In the time of COVID-19, doctors’ appointments have become notoriously difficult to schedule despite bookings to see a general medical practitioner being very high. This has led some within the health field to consider different directions.
The new direction relates to the way that patient care and advice is delivered. This comes after new data reveals that 40 percent of rheumatoid arthritis (a degenerative chronic condition) patients surveyed felt that their concerns and opinions had little to no impact on their treatment decision. Only 35 percent felt that they received enough information, contributing to poor treatment adherence.
These matters have been picked up by Clinical Nurse Specialist Tracy French, who offers alternative advice to help create better treatment outcomes. French’s approach can be summarised in the ASK approach.
The ASK approach aims to provide practical advice for patients of all conditions to empower a greater quality of care.
The ‘ASK’ approach to a consultation, according to French in information provided to Digital Journal,involves:
- Address your main concerns at the start of your consultation.
- Share details of all symptoms with your consultant, prioritising the most detrimental to your quality of life.
- Know as much as you can about your prescribed treatment, including what format you can take it in, potential side effects, how long it can take to work and other options if it fails to work.
French says that adopting the ASK approach ahead of consultations could help to make the most of an appointment duration and ensure an informed role in care decisions.
There are also issues with medical adherence and patient-clinician communication, since 70 percent of all rheumatoid arthritis patients prescribed a first-line oral treatment went on to stop taking their treatment completely, risking worsening joint damage. This is according to the UK National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS).
Importantly, those who felt involved in their treatment decision, and who were provided with a higher level of information, reported having a more positive response to their treatment. However, the data suggest that only 9 percent of patients were given a choice regarding their preferred administration format for one of the most common treatments, despite differing side effect profiles, dosing levels and efficacy rates.
In contrast, nearly half of patients who later switched format, from an oral tablet to an injectable device for the same medication, felt that it had had a positive impact on their quality of life. The data suggests a 42 percent reduction in side effects and a 40 percent reduction in symptoms and would have preferred the injectable route if they had known about it at the start of their treatment.
