“Compliance.”
It’s a word that holds great meaning for healthcare professionals. It is usually used in a negative connotation, meaning that a patient has failed to comply with instructions for care or medication protocols. In other words, the patient left the healthcare facility and didn’t take the meds on time or at all, and didn’t follow the advice and instructions of the professionals.
Compliance issues are frustrating and complex.
But here’s a suggestion: use public health videos to increase your patients’ understanding of their health issues and what you, as the professional, are trying to do to make them feel better. A good place for the folks in your clinic or office to start is a health literacy video that explains, in vivid terms, what it means when patients do not understand your instructions or fail to grasp what ignoring your instructions or their medications can mean. Share that with your staff. The AMA offers such a health video and many more.
Most of the videos in the public health videos realm are free. Many public health videos are in libraries and online. If people in your office have a list of these videos and can direct people on where to find them, you’ve expanded your efforts to take of people who may have compliance issues. If a particular video is short and to the point, you may set up an area where a patient or patient’s family can see the video in a few minutes, and ask questions afterwards. This makes compliance a lot easier. If you don’t have the space or staff, refer your patients to the free health videos online. Have a list made up and keep it updated.
Public health videos online are stockpiled on YouTube and many sites have their own libraries that people can connect to. Subjects for public health videos include family planning, asthma, aging, heart disease, stroke, home care, immunizations, obesity, breastfeeding, infant care, STDs, tobacco, women’s health, pregnancy…the list goes on and on. Many drug sites also offer what you might call public health videos because they carefully explain a condition and why it’s important to take their drug properly. You can review them in your office first and decide if they’ll be useful to your patients or are too much of a hard sell.
In terms of gaining better compliance with your patients, public health videos are a great tool that cost you nothing.