World’s nurses
to improve patient access to information about health and
medicines
International Council of Nurses Announces New Policy on
Informed Patients and Introduces “Patient Talk” Project
at Global Conference in Geneva
Geneva, 27 June 2003 ─ Citing clear evidence that informed patients
respond better to treatment and report greater satisfaction with their care,
the International Council of Nurses (ICN) today launched a new programme to
step
up the profession’s commitment to patient education and information
“Nurses have always played an important role in patient education,
but there has never before been such convincing evidence of the positive effects
of good patient information on preventing illness and improving treatment outcomes,” said
Judith Oulton, ICN’s Chief Executive Officer. “A strong nurse-patient
relationship fosters greater information sharing and supports patients in choosing
the health options that best meet their needs,” she added.
ICN today made public a new Position Statement on informed patients based
on a growing body of literature that suggests informed patients are more likely
to:
- Have better treatment outcomes
- Adopt and adhere to preventive measures more willingly
- Ably self-diagnose and treat minor ailments
- Know the warning signs of serious illness and seek professional health
care services sooner
- Follow instructions better with less misuse or abuse of medicines
- Ask questions when they do not understand a doctor, nurse or pharmacist’s
instructions
The new ICN Position Statement affirms that every patient has a right to
accessible, timely, accurate, understandable and evidence-based information
about health and medicines. It also explains that patients have the right
to know as much or little about their health status or choices as they want,
and that each individual has the right to choose how to manage his or her own
health.
To support this policy, ICN also announced that it is launching a new information
campaign called “Patient Talk”, which consists of fact sheets and
a website [www.patienttalk.info] to give patients up-to-date information on
a number of important health topics.
The first three “Patient Talk” fact sheets cover ways to help
patients evaluate different sources of health information, avoid medication
errors and treat headaches and migraine more effectively. At least twenty
more fact sheets will be produced in coming months.
The ICN “Patient Talk” programme is supported by an unrestricted
educational grant from Johnson & Johnson.
“We have always considered the relationship between nurses and patients
to be a unique and vital part of successful health care delivery,” said
Dr. Scott Ratzan, Vice President, Government Affairs, Johnson & Johnson
Europe. “ICN and its member organizations can play a key role in
helping create better informed patients around the world.”
“Patient Talk” fact sheets will be available soon in local languages
through ICN’s 125 member national nursing associations.
For further
information contact Linda Carrier-Walker
Tel : (+41 22) 908 0100; fax : (+41 22) 908 0101;
email:
Web site http://www.icn.ch |
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