Concordance:lessons from practice

摘要

Between 1995 and 1997 a working group of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain set out to explore the reasons why patients do not take their medicines as prescribed.Its findings were published in an influential report entitled"From compliance to concordance",in which the concept of concordance was introduced to encourage patient participation in medication decision-making.Concordance requires prescribing consultations to involve patients as partners so that they are engaged in treatment decisions,hence facilitating joint decision-making between professionals and patients.This is the primary way in which concordance differs from compliance.Concordance has attracted interest from policy makers such as those involved in the NHS plan,national service frameworks and the expert patient programme,which clearly advocate the idea that patients should be involved in treatment decisions and that their views on health care are heard.