WSMI presents on “responsibilizing the patient/customer” to the Pharmaceutiques Summer School, France
September 2007

In a world of scarce of government resources, self-care and responsible self-medication should be a cornerstone of healthcare provision and health policy. Research shows that supporting self-care can improve health outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and help in deploying the biggest collaborative resource available to the healthcare system: patients and the public. Improved understanding of health behaviour models and empowerment of the patient/customer will be key in the future.
Participants to the meeting noted with interest that the French language for self-care is only emerging. While, in Canada, self-care has been referred to as “soins auto-administrés”, there is not yet a term in the common language in France.