Concerns vs benefits

You can also help the patient to consider their concerns about their medicine against the perceived benefits. For example:

• "Now we have discussed this medicine, what would you like to do?"
• "How do you want to manage your condition/medicines-taking?"

This isn’t about saying "the medicine might not be right for you"; it is about ensuring that the person who has been prescribed the new medicine has the information they need to feel comfortable that it is the right choice for them.

If they aren’t sure, you can add this to your record and inform the GP or other prescriber so that they can continue the conversation.

If, following an Empower conversation, the patient decides they’d rather not take a medicine, you can still engage with them by asking:

• "What would you like to do to improve your health around [disease area]?"

If they don’t know what to do, you can make suggestions through offering options. For example, in hypertension:

• "I understand that you would rather not take medicines to treat high blood pressure at the moment. What do you know about other ways to lower blood pressure?"

If they have no ideas, you could add:

• "Some people find that increasing exercise is helpful; others prefer to focus on changing their diet through reduced salt, alcohol or caffeine intake. What would interest you/what would you like to try?"

If someone comes up with a risky course of action, ask them to think about things in more detail. Often when people delve into a subject, they realise either that they don’t know enough and want to find out more, or they work out for themselves that something isn’t a good idea.

If someone wants to do anything you think could be harmful, you need to say so, but in a concerned rather than judgemental way as you still want them to return to talk about whatever they choose to do. So to effectively empower patients help them to:

• Find their own reasons for wanting to take any new medicines
• Come up with their own solutions to any issues they may have
• Feel supported enough by you to return for a discussion or know who to speak to next.