Micaela: Speaking with health professionals – Poor communication and lack of information (1)
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Micaela
Female
Age at interview: 38
Number of medicines: 21
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Micaela had recently been diagnosed with costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage in the chest area). She had not received enough information from her doctors, which was something she had experienced before. She went to the internet for information, which she then shared with her specialists and GP.
Micaela:
Yeah, it's inflammation of the cartilage. As far as I know, again, it's an autoimmune problem, but again, doctors don't really tell you very much. And then, if you present them with information, because you're asking them a question, because you've learnt something about it through discussion or through research, your own research, they're very cynical. [laughs] So from time to time, I do get involved in some online forums and support groups and it's quite helpful to share experiences and information and not feel so isolated, I guess. But not just that, also to know that, oh ... I can expect that to happen. I mean, one of my specialists, my immunologist, I go and present him sometimes with symptoms and he won't actually ... he doesn't actually like to determine ... and he probably doesn't know where does it spring from. But he just says, ‘Oh that happens.’ Well, it would have been nice if you'd given me a bit more information, so that I thought, ‘OK, that's something that I can expect.’
Jacqueline:
So, a bit of information in advance would be … would have been helpful?
Micaela:
Helpful. Yeah. I think, yeah, I've got a fantastic GP, who will discuss things to the end of time and, even if he … even if he thinks … he's got a bit of an attitude towards what you find on the interweb, but at least he's prepared to discuss it with you and say what he thinks and say, ‘Well, I haven't heard that before, or ... ’Other than that, most of my specialists, they just have this attitude of, ‘We know what we're doing. Just leave it with us.’
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.