Patient Awareness Week

1. Nursing Hi Nursing
Patient Awareness Week
March 2-8
2014

2. Helping people to manage their health
• Improving access to medicines and diagnostics is vital, but still not enough
to improve global healthcare. A holistic approach of health education,
awareness and patient support is also critically important to a patient’s
long-term outcome. With that in mind, we support local community
partners to run screening, awareness and counseling programmers, and
help empower people worldwide with the knowledge to safeguard and
manage their own health.
• We work with patient groups, hospitals and health organizations around
the world to increase awareness of diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid
arthritis, hepatitis, osteoporosis and diabetes. We also conduct screening
programmes for the early detection of these diseases. And we publish
newsletters, magazines and other publications aimed at helping people
make healthy choices and changing behaviours to prevent disease.
• We produce information for patients, families and caregivers who operate
counseling services to help them understand diseases and the proper use
of our products. Additionally, we develop websites that provide the latest
information on diagnostic tests and treatment options.

3. Providing patient support
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Supporting patients throughout their treatment journey can be as important as supplying
them with the right medicines. Indeed, a recent report showed that 45% of cancer patients
found the emotional challenges of the disease harder to deal with than the practical or
physical ones1.
With that in mind, we sponsor counseling programmer’s maintain product websites and
other forms of support to patients, their family, friends and caregivers. In addition, we
operate counseling centers and telephone help lines and coordinate services to improve
treatment compliance and rehabilitation. The goal is to help people understand, manage and
live with their disease, their treatment and any side effects, and return them to an active
lifestyle and/or work.
Many of our activities focus on educating people about the importance of taking their
medicines exactly as prescribed. These activities not only tie into our aim to improve health
awareness, but also prevent waste of healthcare resources through suboptimal use of
medicines.
We help healthcare professionals demonstrate the need for, and assist patients with,
adhering to treatment regimens through patient support programmers, reminder text
messages, treatment diaries and 24-hour call lines, amongst other activities. We have
product websites with features that include automated reminders to patients for taking their
medication and access to trained nurses and information on how to live with a disease and
medical side effects.

4. Working with patient groups
• Patient groups are important partners for Nursing Hi Nursing. We
share an interest in helping patients understand and manage their
disease, including having timely and equitable access to the
treatment they need.
• Patient groups are important in helping us gain a greater
understanding of what it is like to live with a disease, the challenges
facing patients and their families and the role that drug therapies
play in the management of the disease. As they support the voice
of the patient, our interactions enables us to learn about real
patient needs. Such valuable information guides us in the
development of new medicines, helps in regulatory approval and
reimbursement, and with the support tools we need.
• They also provide us with insight on how to support healthcare
professionals who in turn support patients.

5. Suggested Ways to Celebrate PatientCentered Care Awareness Month
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Displaying the Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month logo on your website and utilizing social media
(blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to promote the month and your organization’s patient-centric
programs
Reviewing and utilizing the toolkit located under resources on this website.
Holding a meeting of the patient and family advisory council or creating a patient and family advisory
council if one doesn’t already exist.
Inviting patients or family members to join hospital committees.
Sharing information with staff and the community about patient satisfaction surveys such as HCAHPS
along with additional patient perspectives and suggestions that have been implemented and other
patient-centered strategies that have been adopted.
Hosting an open house for patients and families.
Writing a letter to the editor of the local paper describing the hospital’s commitment to patient-centered
care and identifying the opportunities for patients and families to get involved.
Commenting on blogs about improving patient experiences by customizing care and building partnerships
between providers and patients
Displaying and/or distributing the Proclamation for Patient-Centered Care.
Inviting local and state elected officials to tour your community to showcase your healing environment
and any new features and programs designed to personalize, humanize and demystify their health care
experience.
Committing to developing a care partner program to involve loved ones and familiarize them in the care of
the patient in the hospital and after discharge.