Patients Helping Patients – The Importance of Shared Experience
Posted on November 20, 2012 by Miki Peer
We were delighted to come across a short article in the Journal for Patient Compliance that touched on the very reasons why patient-to-patient dialogues are important. The article, titled “Choosing Not to Take Medication: How patients can help other patients get better”1, highlights two key benefits arising from interactions between patients. First, patients offer each other valuable insights into living with an illness, and strategies for managing self-care that are drawn from lived experiences. For example, a patient may share with another patient a tip that worked for them in managing a medication side effect. The second benefit relates to the person that is sharing information; namely, the feeling of being useful and/or needed.