Well, I am not sure whether someone scrolls so far down to acknowledge this topic, but I give it a try anyway.
Naivley written/asked:
Does the patient has any responsibility at all nowadays?
Action: People eat wrong, behave wrong (smoke/drink), don't exercise and so on. (short life style)
Reaction: they receive medical attention
Taking a glance onto pharmacy procedures: We label medication, we order prescriptions, we arrange prescription collection, we arrange deliveries, etc.
Within a (blaming-)society (if something goes wrong) as ours nowadays, I really ask myself is it all necessary? Of course some is self inflicted, but why not freeing ourselfs from the labeling and giving out bigger packs than 28's? Why not demanding more responsibility from patients who are capable of so much more?
Have fun in answering :-)
Don't give me a soap box!!
This is something that really annoys me. I perosnally feel people do not take enough resonsibility for themselves in almost every spere of life
Patients SHOULD take more responsibility for their health.
I have a friend who is type 1 diabetic who has never really bothered with controlling his diseasae. He eats what he wants, gives himself insulin and is now blind and on dialysis. I dont expect him to live for more than another 2 years - and it may be a lot shorter than that.
It sounds harsh but I would be horrified if he was offerred a kidney transplant. I get so anoyed when I think of the time and money spent to recue him from problems that were of his own making.
RPCS and delivery services have enabled patients to hand over responsibility to 'the system'There is no doubt many elderly and infirm patients do need these type of services. But such schemes are liable to abuse. Maybe there should be a charge for those patients for whom it is a conveninece rather than a necessity.
Sally A Haynes
In support
Why should the patient take on responsibility? Pharmacists compete with each other for script numbers, especially with the collection services on offer. As a profession we are in competition with each other to undercut and get that business. So because of that we have started to keep repeats from customers to 'lock them in' and pretty much induce them to use the service we provide.
I personally think if patients took on more responsibility for their care, they would feel more empowered to talk to us and GPs as equals (all human after all) and would have better outcomes. Pharmacy wants to be a source of 'wellness' for the community, that also incudes psychological empowerment.
Clear Conscience
Whatever happens, take responsibility.
- Tony Robbins
Responsibility is the cornerstone of a great health care provision. I agree with the sentiments expressed by the contributors to this thread. It is very frustrating for me working in health care to see patients that are showing blatant lack of responsibility. The story described by Sally Haynes is a case in point.
I cannot afford to give up trying though. Vishant Patel raised some important points about empowerment. MUR is a tool I use in the pharmacy to engage more constructively with my patients. A number of factors may explain why an individual patient will not take responsibility for his/her health. If I can explore this in some details for that patient, I may be able to help that patients.
A dependency culture may also be a factor here. I guess a strong leadership is required here from the government and from myself.
If as professionals I continue to give effective advice to my patient and he/she continues to disregard it, then I am within my right to refuse to see that patient again. When Sally Haynes says she will 'be horrified if he was offered a kidney transplant', I guess this is what she was eluding to.
Lack of responsibility has been built into some clinical care. Refusal to provide liver transplant to someone who does not remain sober (alcoholic) is an example. The prognosis is not good anyway.
As clinical practitioners we should be able to refuse care to someone who shows a blatant lack of care to the intervention we are offering. And if they end up with the inevitable consequence of lack of care, it will be a pity and we should be able to go to bed with a clear conscience.
Kazeem Olalekan