Healthcare providers need to engage patients

Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, School of Parmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia,, Penang

The Star Online  - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/27/focus/9178711&sec=focus

I READ with interest “Medicines not prescribed properly” (The Star, July 17). I think both doctors and pharmacists need to be more responsible to head off such problems in our hospitals.

This can be resolved by good communication between the two parties. It is known that in our public hospital system, the patient might be seen by different doctors during their visits. And things are more complicated in Malaysia as the patient never questions what medicines are given on each visit.

Besides that, lack of communication between healthcare providers and the patient also contributes to problems related to medication adherence.

To be a good healthcare provider, one must have empathy, the ability to translate complexities into simple matters and the ability to act on the obvious.

I urge healthcare providers in hospitals to be more rational in prescribing, and to inform their patients well in terms of their medication or any procedure that is needed.

In some cases, based on his clinical judgment, the doctor might need to change the patient’s pharmacotherapy management by either adding new drugs or omitting previously prescribed ones. When this happens, appropriate explanations need to be given to the patient.

I hope healthcare providers in this country will engage patients in any decision making process, and they also need to improve their communication at every level of the rational medicines use process in order to overcome medication errors, patient confusion and medication wastage.