PHYSICIAN PAGE
PERSONALIZED TREATMENT MANAGEMENT
FOR EACH OF YOUR PATIENTS AT AVENE
Because everyone is unique and because each hydrotherapy treatment requires very specific attention, the medical team at Avène provides each patient with medical care and management that include workshops and conferences in a setting with a real human dimension.
HOW DOES THE SCIENCE OF HYDROTHERAPY SHOW ITS HUMAN DIMENSION?
Dr. Charles TAIEB, Director of Public Health, Quality of Life and Health Economics for Groupe Pierre Fabre
Quite simply through the importance that we ascribe to what is referred to as the patient's "experience". We measure it through the analysis of quality of life questionnaires which have for many years given us information about this "experience"*. We also take into account the "individual burden" of illness that patients must bear. This more recent notion refers to the psychological, social, economic and physical "handicap" caused by a frequently chronic illness.
Its evaluation helps assess the expression of the patient's and/or the patients family's experience given that their burden has an impact on quality of life, social integration, day-to-day organization and the level of medical resources needed (medical visits, treatments, etc.). We know to what extent chronic dermatosis, such as psosiaris and atopic dermatitis, can influence the patients' quality of life and their environment. Now we also know, and are able to precisely evaluate, the extent to which the treatment dispensed at the Avène Hydrotherapy Center is capable of significant and long-lasting improvement.
* Burden reduction study – Word Congress of Pediatric Dermatology – Madrid, Spain – September 2013.
HOW IS EVALUATED THIS INDIVIDUAL BURDEN AT THE HYDROTHERAPY CENTRE ?
The individual burden of dermatosis is evaluated with the help of questionnaires designed by a multi-disciplinary team (patients, patient families, physicians, psychologists, etc.) using a strict method. The questionnaires are developed in 3 successive phases: research, development and validation. Evaluation is done by way of at least 2 assessments: the first (on the day of arrival at the Center) helps define a benchmark level and the second (after three weeks) helps situate the level of burden at the end of treatment. The difference between these two scores helps determine, as simply as possible, the burden reduction.
A CONCRETE EXAMPLE at Avène Hydrotherapy Centre "BURDEN ATOPY"
A "family burden" questionnaire was created and validated in 2012 and then published in 2013* in partnership with the French Association of Eczema. It is referred to as the A.B.S. questionnaire (Atopy Burden Score). This questionnaire is structured around 4 issues: "Family life" (4 questions), "Budget & Work" (4), "Everyday Life" (3) and "Treatment" (3).
* Méni C, Bodemer C, Toulon A, Merhand S, Perez-Cullell N, Branchoux S, Taïeb C. Atopic dermatitis Burden Scale: Creation of a specific burden questionnaire for families. JEADV 2013
