Educating patients… and carefully educating their doctors too

We are doing patient awareness to help more patients get the treatment they deserve.

The tricky thing is that the patient funnel is loooong…

FIRST OF ALL, many patients don’t even know what’s wrong. We have to help them recognize their symptoms.

THEN they need to know that treatment actually exists (and that it works). This is hard, because we do not want to be sold to when it comes to our health. “The doctor will know what is wrong with me.” (Well, he doesn’t always know!)

AND EVEN IF patients know all this, they still have to do something about it. No doctor’s appointment = nothing happens. It’s crazy how many people with serious conditions just accept their fate and live with it.

BUT THEN the doctor might not know about the new treatment either – sometimes the patient is the first to bring it up. And how can we help the patient talk to the physician without appearing to impose a diagnosis on the doctor?

AT LAST, the doctor has to know how to get the patient referred to the right care – and if it’s a rare condition, he might not know what to do.
So, there are many steps where this can go wrong.

We believe the solution is to educate the patient – not only about the disease and the treatment – but about the entire patient pathway. What to expect. What to ask. And how to help the doctor help them, without making it look like patients playing doctor themselves.

Delicate stuff. It’s a fine balance between informing about (not promoting) a diagnosis, giving a neutral overview of all available treatment options, and believing that ours will be seen as the most relevant. And then, gently nudging the patient to book that appointment.

Easy? Not at all.