How Can Medication Non-adherence Be a Bigger Threat?
America's drug problem has been dubbed failure to take drugs as recommended. This is a problem that dates back to the beginning of medicine. However, blaming patients is not the solution to this problem. People have trouble taking medications as recommended for a variety of reasons, and resolving the issue needs a multidisciplinary strategy.
What exactly is pharmaceutical non-adherence, and how does it affect Americans' health? What's more, what causes non-adherence to medications, and how can it be avoided so that trips to the emergency room are avoided?
What is The Definition of Medication Adherence?
Medication adherence, formerly known as drug compliance, refers to how well patients follow prescription medication dispensing instructions. This entails getting the medication from the pharmacy and following the directions to the letter, without skipping doses or stopping the medication completely.
Medication non-adherence, or failing to take medication as recommended, can be purposeful or unintentional, as shown in the patient scenarios above. Forgetfulness or misinterpretation of instructions might cause unintentional lapses in drug adherence. Intentional gaps in medication adherence, on the other hand, reflect a person's perceptions of their health and views about medication.
A person may believe, for example, that a drug intended for everyday usage should only be used when symptoms develop. Perhaps they are hesitant to take a prescription after reading about its possible negative effects, or they are hesitant to take a drug that has created a problem for a family member.
It's worth noting that adherence is a behavior that necessitates both motivation and action. We all know how tough it is to change one's health habits. Even for the most dedicated person, sticking to a diet, keeping an exercise regimen, and even altering medication-taking habits can be difficult. Intentional non-adherence might be extremely difficult to treat for these reasons. Medication non-adherence, whether intentional or inadvertent, leads to a slew of major health issues.
What Are The Repercussions Of Not Taking Your Medication As Prescribed?
Failure to take medications as recommended is a widespread and life-threatening problem. Each year, more than 100,000 Americans die as a result of prescription non-adherence, far outnumbering deaths from influenza, pneumonia, or car accidents. In other words, non-adherence to medication would be the seventh largest cause of death in the United States.
Excessive utilization of health care is also a result of medication non-adherence. Medication non-adherence accounts for up to 10% of hospital admissions. Furthermore, non-adherence to medications has been linked to a twofold increase in the likelihood of hospital readmission within one month of discharge.
Failure to take medications as recommended has a significant financial impact on health-care costs. The annual cost of non-adherence to medications and other medication-related issues surpasses $500 billion. 7 This is roughly the same amount spent in 2019 on all prescription medications given to every American.
Medication Adherence: How Is It Measured?
Monitoring a person's medicine use by direct observation or reviewing prescription refill trends using data provided by pharmacies are both objective indicators of adherence.
In clinical studies assessing new pharmaceuticals, direct observation of medication use is widespread. While routine direct monitoring outside of a scientific trial is often impossible, it can be a useful option for worried family members who live together.
Analyzing pharmacy refill data, a practice utilized by health insurers and the Medicare prescription medication program, is another objective measure of adherence. While this method can provide some insights at the population level, pharmacy records rarely tell the entire story of a person's pharmaceutical use. A person can have accrued additional medication from previous renewals, received drug samples, or spent time in the hospital, for example. Prescription refill data indicates that a drug was purchased, but not if the medication was actually consumed.
Improved drug adherence may necessitate addressing a person's health attitudes, motives, and expectations. While improving drug adherence might be difficult, it can be the difference between excellent health and frequent trips to the emergency room. Ask us at PD-RX Pharmaceuticals for prescription medication dispensing system.
**Disclaimer: The information on this page is not intended to be a doctor's advice, nor does it create any form of patient-doctor relationship.