Doing nothing is not an option
We are all unique. Ourselves, our practices, our patients. Add in fellow health professionals; the media; and our patient’s families, world understanding and their complex interactions as some reasons why the success rates of high-level tactics to improve medicines adherence is poor. 3,4
Therefore, when planning what you or your practice decide to implement to improve CVD medication outcomes, the actions must be tailored to both the clinical environment and to your patient’s world.
Here are a number of questions to provoke such planning.
The clinician
- CVD risk assessment: are your patients who need CVD preventives being identified? Are you doing computer CVD risk assessments? Is the one you use accurate? Do you review patient risk at the correct interval?
- Prescribing: do you follow the CVD guidelines? Have you read the latest version?
- Workload: how do you address the CVD needs of patients with higher priority morbidities, particularly when you are busy? Do you have good practice support for this?
- Communication: do you explain the need for CVD medication in a way that is clear and acceptable to your patient? Do you use visual aids eg, https://cvdcalculator.com to help communicate risk?