Talk Before You Take Campaign Launches in Response to New Research Showing Communication Gaps
Rockville, MD (January 28, 2015) – New public research shows that there are gaps in communication between healthcare providers and patients about the benefits and potential risks of prescription medicines. Nearly half of Americans are taking prescription medicines, and over 20 percent of Americans take at least three. Yet research shows that approximately 62 percent of patients are not aware of any safety warnings about their medicines, and 10 percent of patients unaware of the possibility of a severe reaction or side effect to any of the medicines they are taking actually experience a serious drug reaction.
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Press Release(click to download PDF)
May 8, 2015
The Baltimore Sun
Op-Ed By Dr. G. Caleb Alexander is co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness and Elizabeth Keyes, RPh is chief operating officer of the American Pharmacists Association and NCPIE Chair. Both authors are advisors to Talk Before You Take, a national educational campaign from NCPIE and the FDA designed to encourage increased communications between healthcare providers and patients about their prescription medicines.
NewsUSA
Experts say communication is key when dealing with prescription medicine.
Organized in 1982, the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) is a nonprofit coalition of diverse organizations committed to promoting the wise use of medicines through trusted communication for better health. NCPIE works to address critical medicine safe use issues like adherence improvement, prescription drug abuse prevention, reduction of medication errors, and quality improvements in healthcare provider-patient communication. For more information, visit TalkAboutRx.org.
Talk Before You Take is a research-based public education campaign designed to encourage and increase communications between healthcare providers (HCP) and patients about their medicines.
The campaign was developed by NCPIE with support from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As part of the campaign, NCPIE is partnering with key stakeholder organizations to promote the campaign and disseminate educational materials designed for HCPs and patients. In addition, the campaign will be supported by media outreach and the creation of a website that will serve as a resource for patients and HCPs where they can download free educational materials.
More information is available at TalkBeforeYouTake.org.
The goal of the campaign is to stimulate effective communication about the benefits and potential risks of prescription medicines between patients and their HCPs to help ensure safe use. Such communication can help patients avoid adverse drug events, improve medicine adherence, and live healthier lives. NCPIE seeks to reach patients, especially those with multiple chronic conditions who require treatment with prescription medicines, and primary HCPs (including primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) who prescribe many of those medicines.
Research was conducted by Ipsos Healthcare, a global independent market research company, with input from the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness (CDSE), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Approximately 2,000 patients and 800 healthcare professionals across the U.S. were reached via surveys, representing individuals and their caregivers, pharmacists in community-based retail settings, and prescribers, including primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
The research shows that prescribers (primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) are patients’ and caregivers’ primary sources of prescription safety information, but HCPs underestimate their influence, believing instead that patients rely more on pharmacists and the Internet. Even when patients and caregivers receive risk and safety information, they may not remember the specifics. These disconnects illustrate the opportunity for HCPs and their patients and caregivers to initiate more focused conversations about prescription medicines. Some of the main research takeaways include:
While prescribers and pharmacists help patients manage their prescriptions, patients and caregivers are responsible for following recommended treatment plans. Patients and caregivers need to ensure that they fully understand the benefits, potential risks, and other important information about their treatment plans. The following tips can help guide these conversations:
Patients and caregivers should always follow up with their HCP if questions or concerns remain after their initial visit. A comprehensive list of questions to ask about prescription medicines is also available along with other resources on TalkBeforeYouTake.org.
NCPIE has convened a multi-stakeholder project advisory team to provide expert guidance for communicating essential medicine safety and risk information. In addition, NCPIE is partnering with key patient and HCP stakeholder organizations to promote the campaign and disseminate educational materials for HCPs and patients through member outreach, social media, organizations’ websites, and the campaign website TalkBeforeYouTake.org.
Visit TalkBeforeYouTake.org for information on how to enhance communication between patients, caregivers, and HCPs. The website also houses the following free information and downloadable resources:
i Ipsos Healthcare. “Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Concerning Risk and Safety Information of Medicines: A Survey of patients/Patients and HCPs in the U.S.” An Internal Report (supported by FDA CDER Grant number 5U18FD004653). 2013. Washington, DC.