Redbook March 2008/drug article | Arthritis Information

"There's A Pill for That" by Kathleen McGowan

This is a very interesting, long article about drugs, drug ads, new drugs, etc. I'm going to post just one small section, because I think it touches on some things discussed here recently about communicating with your doctor. If you get a chance to read the whole article, I recommend it.

"Research has shown that mentioning a drug in the doctor's office can do a patient good. In one of his studies on patient-doctor interaction, Kravitz asked trained actors to visit a GP and describe symptoms of major depression. Of the "patients" who asked for a particular drug by name, 90 percent got high-quality initial care: an appointment for follow-up, referral to a mental-health specialist, or a prescription. But only 56 percent of the actor-patients who did not mention a drug got any one of these treatments. Kravitz's conclusion: "It suggests that informed, motivated, and involved patients can dramatically improve the quality of their own care," he wrote."

Suzanne - it doesn't look like it's online yet. They have the table of contents for Jan and Feb up - but not March yet. What's the exact issue, please.

I love this writer - if you run a search on Redbook for "there's a pill for that" you pick up some of her old articles. Like "Meeting Dr. Right" and what to expect, health wise in your 20's, 30's and 40's. I just didn't recognize the name. I cut her articles out! LOL And you people wonder why I can't find stuff - it's filed somewhere!

Pip

Is that the same woman who believes she's a decendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene?That's really interesting. I wonder what the psycology behind that is, on the doc's side I mean.Pip - March 2008, so it probably isn't online yet.

Linncn - this is hard for me, too, the actually mentioning a drug by name. I don't think I would ever do that, except to say "When I had this before, this helped", etc. But I think I do try to do what the last sentence says - be informed, motivated, involved. Maybe the psychology is CYA, fear of lawsuits??? Afraid the patient will say, 'I asked for this and you didn't do it and now look what happened'? Especially in this scenario, depression. Also, the article doesn't say they got exactly the med they asked about, only that they received higher quality care.

I'm glad to hear that. I believe some doctors feel threatened by a patient who's well informed, while others would probably welcome the "assist." Apparently the same woman - I hit the reviews of her book pre-Redbook search. I think she found God or something. Which can be good. Anyway, her older articles were funny, well written and contained a BUNCH of info.

When diagnosed in '06 and without being able to do ANYTHING - I worked on my 'magazine' collection. I had storage containers of Redbood, BHG, Family Circle, I mean you name it. Some of them went as far back as the late 90's. LOL And I read them all. The ones that had the McGowan articles in - I cut them all out. All about AI diseases, comments about recent research etc.

Of course, I eventually discovered the Internet.

Pip

Suzanne, that's the interesting part. Why better care? Does the doctor unconsciencely (did I spell that wrong) view a person differently when they come with some knowledge of their illness and an idea of what treatments are available? I wouldn't think that doctors in general differentiate like that on purpose. I'm still trying to grasp that complete un referred patients (actors) got appointments to see these drs... around here it takes forever to get in to see a regular gp.

but then, yes I have found that when I can talk knowlegably with my dr it helps.. when I can say.."I dont react well to xxxx class of drugs, what are the alternatives, how about yyyy" I get an approving smile and a implied pat on the head.. course it helps that I dont ask for antibiotics for virals and that I am aware of my health.