Medicines adherence Flashcards
What are some facts on medicines adherence (4)
Medicines non adherence leads to 10% of all hospitalisations
$300 billion avoided healthcare costs annually
20-30% of prescriptions not picked up
Medicines only work if taken
What are some factors attributable to good adherence? (3)
Good adherence is 80% but this depends on disease
Hypertension requires 92% adherence, chronic heart failure, 58%
Symptomatic disease can have a better adherence
What are some factors for bad adherence? (9)
Patient
- Lack of understanding
- Reluctance to start life long medication
Clinician
- Assumption patients understand
- Lack of time to educate
Medication issues
- Polypharmacy
- ADRs
Communication with clinicians can resolves this
How may adherence be measured? (3)
- Patient interviews/ diary
- Questionnaires
- Electronic monitoring
- Pill count
Medication event monitoring system (MEMs)
- Electric pill bottle and sensor
- Can sense when bottle opened and weighed by the dispenser. Sent to pharmacy
Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
- Blood/ urine analysis
- Confirmation of the presence of drugs
How can difficulty remembering medication be resolved? (3)
- text messages
- simplifying regime
- medication dosette boxes
How can manual dexterity issues be resolved (3)
- Larger bottles/ lids
- Pill bottle openers
- Non childproof medication lids
How can vision problems be resolved? (3)
- Magnifying glass
- Braille
- Coloured markers
How can education problems be resolved (3)
Patient information leaflets in different languages
Structured education programmes
- NHS diabetes prevention programme
How can general doubts be resolved (2)
Medication review
Side effects discussion
How can comorbidities affect adherence (2)
Some patients do not take their medication as they are depressed and do not feel motivated to do so.
SSRIs can be given to improve adherence
