Quebec doctors have established a list of fifty books “to prescribe” in particular to help patients access additional credible information.
Prescription books to help patients get better. Here is an experiment carried out in Quebec City (Canada), where the hospital has drawn up a list of books that doctors can prescribe and that patients can find in the town’s libraries.
These books are called “literary remedies” and are recommended by the doctor. The initiative was launched a year ago at the CHU de Québec-Université de Laval after a project proposed by the director of university affairs teaching Patrice Lemay.
“We often know that consultations are very quick, time is limited to see as many people as possible during the day. Sometimes we leave a little disappointed saying ‘I didn’t have all the answers to my questions’. But in this way, the specialist has access to a list of collections which are accessible in libraries near our hospital centers. And there, we can give references to provide additional information to patients,” he explains.
These book recommendations cover four areas: end of life, psychology, nutrition and spiritual care, with well-documented works for each area to avoid fantasies. “We know today that the patient has a more active role in his episodes of care. So he goes to get a first diagnosis with his friend Google and he comes to get a second medical opinion by going to his professional,” continues Patrice Lemay.
While people have access to more information, that doesn’t mean it’s all accurate. “So what we did was groups by theme, with material in literature of high quality, accessible, general public and easily recommended,” indicates the director of education.
More than 50 books were chosen by health experts, such as Oscar and the Pink Lady by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, which describes the last days of a little boy affected by cancer, or manuals on the Mediterranean diet or autism. Doctors can check off several books on their prescriptions and patients just have to go and borrow them. Several libraries in Quebec offer a “literary remedies” section.
