Can a pat on the head improve patient compliance?
Filed under: Health care/Treatment trends, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Patient/Client Communication
Patting themselves on the head could help patients remember to take their meds. Seriously.
A recent study showed that pairing daily medications with a slightly out of the ordinary action — like patting yourself on the head — significantly improved patients’ odds of remembering whether or not they took that day’s medication.
That can help them avoid accidentally skipping a day or double-dosing.
The study focused on older patients, but there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t also help younger folks.
As for explaining the scientific reason you’re asking a patient to pat their head every day? We’ll leave that up to you.
The study was published in Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition.
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