Discussing treatment burden – a viewpoint article in Breathe (2021)

Healthcare professionals should help patients to reach informed decisions about treatments in order to maximise benefits while minimising treatment burden.

EU-PFF President Steve Jones took part in discussions between patients and their healthcare professional (HCP) – published in Breathe.

Treatment burden is defined as “the workload of healthcare and its effect on patient functioning and well-being”. It has also been defined as “the self-care practices that patients with chronic illness must perform to respond to the requirements of their healthcare providers, as well as the impact that these practices have on patient functioning and well-being”. A viewpoint article in Breathe, the European Respiratory Society’s clinical education publication, which was published in March 2021 focuses on conversations between the patient and his or her healthcare professional. What are the important topics to cover in discussions about treatment burden? What are the barriers to these discussions? What facilitates a productive conversation about treatment burden? The authors of this article include three patients (with asthma, COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), four HCPs representing different specialties (primary care, secondary and tertiary care, nursing and pharmacy) and a representative of the European Lung Foundation (ELF). This article is based on a video discussion between the authors; it was then refined via e-mail by all the authors.

You can find the article for download here.