Patient advocacy groups

It is often difficult for patients to learn about opportunities to participate in clinical trials. Doctors and patient advocacy groups can be valuable resources for patients in search of clinical trial information. Newspapers, particularly in large cities, often carry clinical trial recruitment advertisements. A call to the relevant department at nearby university medical centers can lead to information about clinical trials currently recruiting patients. 

Various specialist groups within society are pushing the industry to fulfill their own objectives in the area of health care. Most obviously, patient advocacy groups want to see their particular patient population served with new, more efficacious treatments. 

An understanding of the audience and the vocabulary needed to communicate with them (the general public, a patient advocacy group, an academic society, and an in-house department seminar all require very different approaches). 

How can good pharmacotherapists be found First, check with experienced and respected colleagues, take note of which pharmacotherapists are referring patients to you, attend local educational meetings with psychiatrists, or, if there is a medical school nearby, attend the psychiatry department s grand rounds. Local patient advocacy and support groups, such as the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the National Alliance for the Mentally HI (NAMI), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), are valuable sources of information from the patient s perspective. 

I have reviewed what the FDA has made available through the Freedom of Information Act as its complete file on ECT. There are dozens of recommendations from state-funded and private patient rights and advocacy groups to ban ECT, and hundreds more from patients who feel that they have been permanently damaged by the treatment. It is astonishing that the FDA has ignored or rejected such an avalanche of official recommendations and personal reports and protests. 

Limited access to or affordability of health care services. Many elderly patients are on fixed incomes. A study conducted by the consumer advocacy group Families USA reported that over the past 5 years, the prices for the 50 prescription drugs most commonly used by the elderly have increased faster than in-flation. Elderly patients who are unable to afford... 

Social or group support can also help to boost the patient s confidence and sense of self-efficacy. Group social support may be available from a patient advocacy organization, such as a local chapter of the American Heart Association. 

Quality of care for individuals with psychiatric illness has come under scrutiny with several studies documenting a need for improvement in medication management. - Psychiatric pharmacists have the opportunity to improve care through quality assurance surveys/drug-use evaluations, patient and staff education,and direct medication management." Psychiatric pharmacist specialists are an important community resource for consumer advocacy groups such as NAMI, also known as the National Alliance for the Mentally 111. - "... 

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