The hard truth is it's normal for treatments, especially medications, not to work. But how many patients do you actually have to treat to improve things for just one even? This is where the concept 'number needed to treat' is critical to better understand so that expectations don't lead to resentments.
Managing expectations as a patient is hard, it's even harder when they're unrealistic. Unfortunately, there is little conversation around what is likely to work in various settings, and what their likelihood is to compared to other options. We'll go through how you should trial medications, ways to improve communications with your provider, touch on the ecological fallacy, explain how experienced clinicians can overcome some of this, and define what evidence-based medicine actually is and should look like.
Resources:
https://www.instagram.com/iniyhpodcast/
Timestamps:
00:00 Official Intro
00:17 Intro - It's normal for treatments not to work
03:07 Number Needed to treat within Neuropathic Pain
05:06 Trial it for 6 weeks
06:07 Context is important in Number needed to treat
10:23 It's an Average - the ecological fallacy
15:00 Why do we do it this way?
16:04 The experienced Clinician can predict
18:15 Develop good communication with your Physician
19:18 Evidence-Based Medicine
20:34 Final Point
21:54 Disclaimer
The hard truth is it's normal for treatments, especially medications, not to work. But how many patients do you actually have to treat to improve things for just one even? This is where the concept 'number needed to treat' is critical to better understand so that expectations don't lead to resentments.
Managing expectations as a patient is hard, it's even harder when they're unrealistic. Unfortunately, there is little conversation around what is likely to work in various settings, and what their likelihood is to compared to other options. We'll go through how you should trial medications, ways to improve communications with your provider, touch on the ecological fallacy, explain how experienced clinicians can overcome some of this, and define what evidence-based medicine actually is and should look like.
Resources:
https://www.instagram.com/iniyhpodcast/
Timestamps:
00:00 Official Intro
00:17 Intro - It's normal for treatments not to work
03:07 Number Needed to treat within Neuropathic Pain
05:06 Trial it for 6 weeks
06:07 Context is important in Number needed to treat
10:23 It's an Average - the ecological fallacy
15:00 Why do we do it this way?
16:04 The experienced Clinician can predict
18:15 Develop good communication with your Physician
19:18 Evidence-Based Medicine
20:34 Final Point
21:54 Disclaimer