For doctors, determining the appropriate drugs to treat patients may ultimately be just the first obstacle to their recovery. Human behavior plays an important role in the way in which prescription drugs are evaluated, discussed, and selected. Whether taking medication or receiving Covid-19 vaccination, when patients overestimate information that is consistent with their views and are unwilling to accept conflicting information, confirmation bias is still an obstacle to overcome.
David Asch, MD, MBA, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Center said: “If we deal with the unreasonable parts of our nature, we will be more effective in improving health behaviors…rather than ignoring them or fighting against them.” Innovation, according to American Medical Association“In health care, understanding our irrationality is just another tool in our toolbox. And using this irrationality is probably the most rational move.”
Therefore, doctors can use behavioral economics methods to understand human behavior, as well as the biases and perceptions that become personal factors when considering medical advice. This then enables doctors to structure their interactions and prompt their patients to make decisions that have a positive impact on their health and stick to their medications.
The most suitable drug for patients
Patients bring their diagnosis into the doctor’s office and choose the first choice of drugs to treat the diseases they have set in their minds is a challenging dynamic facing medical professionals. Once the diagnosis is made, treatment discussions will take place. When the doctor outlines the prescription and guides the patient to understand the benefits and any potential side effects associated with the drug, its quality may be questioned. Is this a universal version? Are there alternative medicines or treatment options? These are the problems that often arise in the doctor’s office. “Communication usually only focuses on sharing information to solve knowledge gaps, but actually requires resolving behavioral gaps,” Asch said, according to a report. Articles about Val HealthIf the patient is unfamiliar with the drug or hesitant, then this provides the doctor with an opportunity to better resolve the personal views and tendencies of the drug and establish a dialogue, which will cause the patient to change their behavior when deciding on the drug.
Financial impact of prescription drugs
Americans spend An average of US$1,200 per person per year About prescription drugs. An individual’s socioeconomic status may affect the individual’s willingness to see a doctor and then take prescription drugs. If the individual does not have health insurance, then the costs associated with out-of-pocket expenses are the main barrier to seeing a doctor and may cause the individual to bypass consulting their doctor. However, if uninsured individuals do have the resources to see a doctor, the cost of dispensing medications may still not be realized. In addition, according to reports, 33% of patients deliberately skip the prescription due to the high priceAlthough insured patients may seek treatment, if they cannot afford it, then when their doctor does not know the cost of the drug and prescribes the drug that the patient cannot afford, compliance with the drug will decrease.
This Medication compliance Patient’s Commitment
Doctors can prescribe and educate patients, but patients need to adhere to the medication to follow the recommended treatment plan.Doctor can use Compliance estimator Identify patients who may be at risk of medication non-adherence. If the doctor determines that the patient may not be able to keep up with their prescription, additional communication can be made to influence the patient’s continued commitment to their treatment. Although drugs enable patients to recover from illness, 75% of prescriptions are not taken as directed, So patients cannot get all of its benefits. In addition, complications can occur with supplementary prescriptions.and 25% of new prescriptions are never issued, and 40% of patients If the doctor does not refill the prescription after six months, getting the patient on the right track and committing to recovery becomes a daunting task.
Colleen A. McHorney is an internationally recognized thought leader in the field of health outcome assessment and medication compliance, and a former senior scientist in Merck’s American Outcome Research. Pharmaceutical Administration Journal That, “I estimate from Merck’s research and other studies that only 20% of non-compliance is due to forgetfulness. The other 80% include people who make deliberate decisions about their drugs. You can send people what they want And make the alarm on the cap of their medicine bottle go off, but unless the patient feels they need medicine and they are not worried about taking it, I don’t think the technology will invade the claims of its advocates.”
Reduce prescription barriers for patients
Doctors must overcome these obstacles when diagnosing, prescribing, and allowing patients to continue treatment, such as the patient’s inability to obtain prescriptions from the pharmacy, fear of side effects, misinformation about the drug’s or drug’s benefits, and the cost of drugs. Doctors can have a positive impact on patients’ lives by gaining a deeper understanding of the patient’s situation and learning how to best solve problems with the patient. For example, if the financial situation is an obstacle for the patient to obtain a prescription, sharing detailed information about the availability of the drug to receive the required medical care through the patient assistance program will provide the patient with the opportunity to stick to the drug.
“A key principle of behavioral economics is not only to recognize that we are irrational-but that we are irrational in a highly predictable way. To be effective, we need to know how to connect our procedures to those predictable psychological weaknesses. ,” Asch said AAMC News.
In the U.S, Approximately 125,000 people die every year It is due to drug non-compliance, but by solving these problems, doctors can better adapt to the patient’s behavior. As medical professionals adopt behavioral economics to understand patient behavior, they are more likely to determine the strategies needed to keep patients on medication. When communicating the treatment plan, the doctor must consider the patient’s life situation and have a dialogue with them to resolve any challenges or hesitations they may encounter in achieving drug compliance.
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