REPOST: Why do people with multiple long-term conditions report worse patient experience in primary care?

Reposted with permission from Charlotte Paddison (Original posted on Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research on March 25, 2015)

Paddison, C.A.M., Saunders, C.L., Abel, G.A., Payne, R.A., Campbell, J.O., Roland, M. Why do patients with multimorbidity in England report worse experiences in primary care? Evidence from the General Practice Patient Survey. BMJ Open 2015;5:e006172 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006172. Access this article here.

Here at the CCHSR we are very interested in multimorbidity. In our recent paper, we used data from nearly 1 million patients in England to understand how people with more than one long-term condition experience care provided by their GP surgery. We found that people with multiple long-term conditions reported worse primary care experiences, when compared to patients in our study who had either one, or no, long-term condition.

Why do people with multiple long-term conditions report worse primary care experiences?

Our results showed that health-related quality of life, particularly in the domain of ‘pain’, might be important. Differences in perception – influenced by pain or depression – could affect the way patients’ report their experiences of primary care. On the other hand, it could be because people with multiple long-term conditions have different and more complex needs than those with single or no long-term conditions. These needs don’t fit well with guidelines designed for patients with a single condition, or health policy framed around the management of a single condition.

Health policy makers and clinicians need to recognise that the patient experience and health care needs of people with multimorbidity are likely to be different to those with a single long-term condition. We agree with Victor Montori on the need to minimise the burden of treatment, as well as the burden of disease; and with Chris Salisbury on the need to (re) design health care for people who use it. As highlighted by Reid et al in the BMJ, chronic pain is very common, and our results suggest recognising and managing pain may be important to improve quality of life and patient experience for people with multiple long-term conditions.

Interested to learn more?

We’ve also blogged previously on what multimorbidity means (and doesn’t); the importance of continuity of care for people with multiple long-term conditions; the relevance (or otherwise) of care plans; why single disease guidelines and protocol-driven medicine don’t work for people with multimorbidity, and the intellectual work needed to provide an alternative.

Reflections on MDM

REPOST: Is healthcare careful? Is it kind? by Dr. John Mandrola

Is healthcare careful? Is it kind?

January 24, 2015 By Dr John Filed Under: Doctoring, Health Care, Healthy Living

Research now indicates 50% of middle–aged people live with one chronic disease. Translation: half of middle-aged people are not healthy.(You don’t need a reference there. Just walk out into the world and look around.)

This new normal creates a challenge for caregivers. How will we care for the onslaught of chronic disease?

Surely not with the current model of care. What happens now is that doctors treat diseases–and even “pre-diseases.” We once had diabetes and hypertension and heart failure. We now have pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension and Stage A (no symptoms and no findings) heart failure.

Guidelines statements promote disease-specific numeric measures, such as blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels. Patients not at goal get more medication. Then guidelines spawn quality measures, which intensifies already burdensome care. Hit doctors with sticks, feed them carrots, the result is the same: more pills and procedures.

Here is the problem: People are not diseases. Guidelines are context blind. As the burden of healthcare overcomes the capacity (physical, mental, emotional and financial) of the patient, she makes choices of what to do. Said another way: life gets in the way of healthcare. No one wants to spend their life being a patient.

Dr. Victor Montori (@vmontori) is an endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic. His idea for making healthcare more effective is to shun disease-specific context-blind surrogates. Montori and his team have asked us to consider a minimally disruptive approach to healthcare. Quality care in their model happens when patients improve their ability to function–or enjoy life.

Their two new words in healthcare are work and capacity. Minimally disruptive care seeks to decrease the work of care while increasing the capacity of the patient to do the work.

This is not health policy gibberish. Think about it. We are losing the fight against chronic disease. When something is not working, you change the strategy.

Montori’s suggestions are simple: 1) Start by using the right language.Assess the burden of care and think about the patient’s capacity to do all that we prescribe. 2) Guideline writers must add context, otherwise guidelines will become irrelevant. 3) Use shared-decision making. If you have to treat 140 patients with a statin medication to prevent one heart attack (meaning 139 patients take the drug without benefit), it makes sense to incorporate the patient’s goals. 4.) Think about deprescribing,not just in the elderly, but in relation to decreasing the work of healthcare.

Here is a 45-minute lecture Montori gave to a group of primary care doctors. About half-way through the video, he describes a patient named John. John is real life. And once you hear John’s story, it is impossible to think we are on the right path.

Papers and presentations, Reflections on MDM

NAPCRG Plenary on Minimally Disruptive Medicine – audio is out!

The North America Primary Care Research Group hosts the foremost international annual conference on primary care research. In 2014, it took place in New York City on November 21-25. It started with a plenary by Victor Montori on Minimally Disruptive Medicine. The audio for that plenary has now been released and can be enjoyed on the Soundcloud website or App. The audience resonated with the message of Minimally Disruptive Medicine. A blog Victor penned discussed the upcoming talk as focused on a careful and kind approach to healthcare. The audience gave these ideas a standing ovation, but not all found the solution complete: Martin Roland for one thinks more primary care research to address the enormous needs of patients with multiple chronic conditions is needed. And that is what we are trying to do.