Health Service Journal

What you really need to know about...
The central idea behind the series of videos, What You Really Need to Know About... had been gestating in the mind of John Cleese for several years. It was based on two observations. Firstly, most general practitioners are familiar with research which

shows how little patients are able to absorb during the average consultation. They are also aware of how certain trigger words such as 'cancer' can reduce some people to complete incomprehension and an inability to concentrate on any subsequent dialogue. Consequently GPs spend a lot of their valuable time repeating explanations to patients more or less word for word. Secondly, patients having just had an illness diagnosed, are often in a slightly shocked state, and are therefore in a very bad frame of mind for taking in new and sometimes quite complicated information. And when they return home they are unable to recall much of what they'd been told. They are also aware of the questions that they wanted to ask and didn’t.
   So, Cleese had the simple idea of producing half hour tapes to explain at some length the disease that the patient had just had diagnosed. The patients can play and replay the tapes until the information has sunk in and they can write down the questions they want to ask the doctor at the next appointment.

Who is Involved?

Dr Rob Buckman, who has developed a successful career in the media as well as being a medical oncologist, provided the impetus for the project. He responded with great enthusiasm when his friend John Cleese mentioned the idea to him in the Spring of 1993. With the help of Alyce-Faye Eichelberger, a member of the Royal Society of Medicine in Child Analytical Psychotherapy and Anne James as co-ordinators they set up the company, Videos for Patients.
   Next, they enrolled another medically qualified writer-performer-director, Graeme Garden (ex-Goodie), who has been directing videos for Video Arts, a highly successful training-video production company that started in 1972. The series has been produced for Videos for Patients by Video Arts.
   What You Really Need to Know About... videos are not intended to replace GPs but rather to assist them in providing patients with the relevant facts about the condition. This will reduce the number of unnecessary consultations where the same information is repeated over again. Garden and Buckman believe that doctors can be of greater help to their patients and patients can gain greater insight into their medical condition if they are encouraged to watch the video and then return with a list of questions.
They maintain that subsequent management may be more efficient with the patient requiring less clarification or reassurance if they have access through the videos to accurate information. Long term chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes, where there are practical management skills to be mastered by the patient in addition to complex medical information, are obvious choices for this type of in-depth information.

The scope of the project

There are three major categories within the project - After the Diagnosis, for patients who have already been told the diagnosis, the Caregiver, which is intended for those who are looking after the patient and Healthy Habits which will outline the importance of preventive medicine through healthy eating, stopping smoking and having regular cervical smear tests.

The format

The video scripts have been written by Robert Buckman and then edited and revised in collaboration with John Cleese. The scripts are then reviewed by two independent medical consultants.
   Each one is introduced by a brief sketch with Buckman and Cleese, illustrating the difficulties sometimes experienced by patients during the traditional doctor's explanation. Thereafter Buckman presents the medical facts, using the usual visual aids to supplement his explanation.
   Patients are constantly reminded that they should replay sections that they don't understand first time. When all the key information is put across Cleese briefly joins Buckman with a couple of questions intended to underline the key advice.
   The Videos for Patients team hope that their wide and long experience in putting this kind of information across in an interesting and clear manner will mean that the What You Really Need to Know About... series should place medical information where it will do most good: into the hands of the patient who need it.
   It is time saving to set up your own patient information library in your practice.