Habits are powerful. Over the course of a year, I write down the date a lot, writing the year hundreds of times. Make that thousands of times, considering all the dated initials needed for every lab and other piece of paper done in clinical trials. When a new year comes along, it takes me weeks, not days, to become accustomed to writing the new year’s date.
Nowadays, I have the same problem even more frequently with passwords. For security, password changes at work are required every few months. Consistently, my fingers type the old password. Sure, consciously, I know my password has changed, but my fingers act of their own accord, independent of conscious knowledge.
The tendency for habit to control behavior is pervasive, so I was excited to read a new book, The Power of Habit, by New York Times writer Charles Duhigg. Duhigg describes neuropsychological research on habit and how much of our lives are driven by habit. The reader is left thinking that, to a large extent, we are defined by our habits — that our habits are who we are.
How Patient Habits Affect Treatment Adherence
Understanding habit may be helpful to our understanding of how patients use prescribed medications and may help us encourage better treatment use and, therefore, improve outcomes. When patients have to think about using their medications, they are likely to forget. If using a medication becomes a habit, they will use the medication regularly. But how can we empower patients to make using their medication a habit?
The key may be encouraging really good use in the first few days and weeks after starting a new treatment. If patients don’t use the medicine regularly by then, the medication is likely to be only marginally effective, and patients will lose confidence and interest in using the treatment. If we can get patients to use the medication well initially, the medication is likely to be more effective, and perhaps a habit of using it can be created.
My efforts to promote adherence focus on getting patients to use their medications well when they first start on the treatment. Perhaps the most powerful tool for getting patients to use medication well is to give them a return visit or some other contact a few days to a week after the medication is prescribed. The return visit, or even a planned phone call, is a powerful incentive to ensure regular use of the medication.
Come January 1, 2013, I may do a little test of this theory, forcing myself to write “2013” a few hundred times the first 3 days of the year, then see if the habit takes hold.
Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Editor
Dr. Feldman is with the Center for Dermatology Research and the Departments of Dermatology, Pathology and Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.
Habits are powerful. Over the course of a year, I write down the date a lot, writing the year hundreds of times. Make that thousands of times, considering all the dated initials needed for every lab and other piece of paper done in clinical trials. When a new year comes along, it takes me weeks, not days, to become accustomed to writing the new year’s date.
Nowadays, I have the same problem even more frequently with passwords. For security, password changes at work are required every few months. Consistently, my fingers type the old password. Sure, consciously, I know my password has changed, but my fingers act of their own accord, independent of conscious knowledge.
The tendency for habit to control behavior is pervasive, so I was excited to read a new book, The Power of Habit, by New York Times writer Charles Duhigg. Duhigg describes neuropsychological research on habit and how much of our lives are driven by habit. The reader is left thinking that, to a large extent, we are defined by our habits — that our habits are who we are.
How Patient Habits Affect Treatment Adherence
Understanding habit may be helpful to our understanding of how patients use prescribed medications and may help us encourage better treatment use and, therefore, improve outcomes. When patients have to think about using their medications, they are likely to forget. If using a medication becomes a habit, they will use the medication regularly. But how can we empower patients to make using their medication a habit?
The key may be encouraging really good use in the first few days and weeks after starting a new treatment. If patients don’t use the medicine regularly by then, the medication is likely to be only marginally effective, and patients will lose confidence and interest in using the treatment. If we can get patients to use the medication well initially, the medication is likely to be more effective, and perhaps a habit of using it can be created.
My efforts to promote adherence focus on getting patients to use their medications well when they first start on the treatment. Perhaps the most powerful tool for getting patients to use medication well is to give them a return visit or some other contact a few days to a week after the medication is prescribed. The return visit, or even a planned phone call, is a powerful incentive to ensure regular use of the medication.
Come January 1, 2013, I may do a little test of this theory, forcing myself to write “2013” a few hundred times the first 3 days of the year, then see if the habit takes hold.
Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Editor
Dr. Feldman is with the Center for Dermatology Research and the Departments of Dermatology, Pathology and Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.
Habits are powerful. Over the course of a year, I write down the date a lot, writing the year hundreds of times. Make that thousands of times, considering all the dated initials needed for every lab and other piece of paper done in clinical trials. When a new year comes along, it takes me weeks, not days, to become accustomed to writing the new year’s date.
Nowadays, I have the same problem even more frequently with passwords. For security, password changes at work are required every few months. Consistently, my fingers type the old password. Sure, consciously, I know my password has changed, but my fingers act of their own accord, independent of conscious knowledge.
The tendency for habit to control behavior is pervasive, so I was excited to read a new book, The Power of Habit, by New York Times writer Charles Duhigg. Duhigg describes neuropsychological research on habit and how much of our lives are driven by habit. The reader is left thinking that, to a large extent, we are defined by our habits — that our habits are who we are.
How Patient Habits Affect Treatment Adherence
Understanding habit may be helpful to our understanding of how patients use prescribed medications and may help us encourage better treatment use and, therefore, improve outcomes. When patients have to think about using their medications, they are likely to forget. If using a medication becomes a habit, they will use the medication regularly. But how can we empower patients to make using their medication a habit?
The key may be encouraging really good use in the first few days and weeks after starting a new treatment. If patients don’t use the medicine regularly by then, the medication is likely to be only marginally effective, and patients will lose confidence and interest in using the treatment. If we can get patients to use the medication well initially, the medication is likely to be more effective, and perhaps a habit of using it can be created.
My efforts to promote adherence focus on getting patients to use their medications well when they first start on the treatment. Perhaps the most powerful tool for getting patients to use medication well is to give them a return visit or some other contact a few days to a week after the medication is prescribed. The return visit, or even a planned phone call, is a powerful incentive to ensure regular use of the medication.
Come January 1, 2013, I may do a little test of this theory, forcing myself to write “2013” a few hundred times the first 3 days of the year, then see if the habit takes hold.
Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Editor
Dr. Feldman is with the Center for Dermatology Research and the Departments of Dermatology, Pathology and Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.
