Setting Shared Goals for Psoriasis Treatment

Experts discuss the practical approach to aligning with patients on treat-to-target goals. They emphasize starting with a collaborative conversation, asking patients about their personal expectations influenced by direct-to-consumer marketing and their own research. Clinicians then translate medical targets into understandable terms, explaining the goal is to reduce the body's overactive inflammatory response to achieve over 90% skin improvement.

Key strategies include using analogies, focusing on high-impact areas, and setting a clear timeline, such as aiming for significant progress within six months. They stress the importance of tracking objective measures like Body Surface Area and itch scores over multiple visits to document trends, as a single appointment is just a snapshot. This combined approach ensures goals are shared, realistic, and documented for both optimal care and managed care requirements.