By DJ Edgerton (@wiltonbound)
…of information, that is.
Medical Marketing & Medias Ben Comer just published an article on the results of a survey done by MedTera, and thats what they found.
To be more official, here are a few of the numbers:
- 95% of patients want to get more information about managing their disease.
- 77% of patients didnt get any written information at all from their doctor.
- And heres the kicker: the reason that MedTera did the survey was because they found that as many as 71% of people who had just been diagnosed with a chronic illness were going off their meds in the first month.
According to Comers article, MedTera will be releasing additional findings on exactly which tools patients find most useful in the next couple of months. Were looking forward eagerly to seeing that.
In the meantime, while these statistics arent illustrating facts that we didnt know before, they are still certainly startling. I mean, come on, NINETY-FIVE percent of patients want more information? We all knew that it was an important issue, but Im not sure even the most vocal critic would have estimated the number that high. And Im not sure that anyone could justify leaving that number the way it is – especially since we have more ways than ever to get information to patients about their health and their diseases.
No, were not always sure which channel to use.
No, we dont have direction from the FDA yet.
No, we dont have a lot of precedent to go from.
No, our legal and regulatory colleagues arent always going to be on our side.
But these statistics are more proof than ever that, even though we may not have all the answers or support that we would like just yet, we really cant wait around until we do.
Patients are, indeed, starving – and even if we arent quite sure how to go about giving them a five-star gourmet meal, weve at least got to start working together to give them more nourishment.