Patient Adherence may be defined as the extent to which the
patient follows the medical advice or prescription that has been
given by the doctor to be followed in the hospital as well as at
home when discharged. These treatment protocols help the patient
rehabilitate or get better. If there is no patient adherence, it
would take a long time for the patient to get better. Patient
adherence is one of the important public health problems according
to research that has been carried out worldwide.
There are many suggestions to get patients to follow the
guidelines and protocols that have been given by the doctors or at
the hospitals. Few of the suggestions are;
- Tell the patients what they should know about the
treatment.
- Develop trust with the patient so that they comply to the
treatment procedures.
- Good communication between the hospitals, pharmacists and
drug/medicine advisors. There should be clear communication between
the drug/medicine advisers who prescribe or promote their
drugs/medicines so that the patients are advised properly on the
medical protocols.
- A proper workflow should be created between the pharmacists and
the patient. Patients and pharmacists should have proper
communication with each other so that patients can get in touch
with pharmacists for the availability of their medicines. Also this
helps the pharmacists keep enough stock of medicines for their
patients. This help for generating feedback between the pharmacist
and patients.
- Knowledge about the use and available developments in the drugs
and gadgets used for treatment; for example insulin injection and
insulin pen.
- Helping patient to set reminders to take their medication at
different times. Developing applications on mobile phones which
help with setting reminders and also giving medicine boxes with
proper instructions help the patients take their medication
properly on time
- Remind about follow ups and appointments being scheduled for
the patients. This helps the hospital get the patient back for
follow ups and ensure patient adherence to follow ups. Most of the
time patients tend to forget that they have an appointment
scheduled for their treatment.
- Medications have to co-ordinated for the patients so that they
can be picked up at the pharmacists. Pharmacists also can know to
manage their medicine stock and ensure that the medicines are
available correctly at their store.