How to increase drug adherence?

Article by Pharmacist Nguyen Huy Khiem - Clinical Pharmacist - Faculty of Pharmacy - Vinmec Times City International Hospital

Adhering to drug treatment as directed by doctors and pharmacists is very important. Currently, there are many measures to increase adherence to treatment. Therefore, you can refer and apply to help protect comprehensive health.

Drug adherence is the voluntary cooperation of the patient to use the prescribed medication, including the duration, dose, and frequency of administration. The development of modern medicine has put the patient at the center of the treatment process. In which, treating doctors, coordinating specialists, pharmacists, nurses and other medical staff support and create favorable conditions to help patients adhere to treatment easier.
To check if you are a person who lacks adherence to medication treatment, you can answer yourself simple questions such as:
Do I often forget my medication when prescribed? In the past 2 weeks, have I missed any chronic medication? Have I ever stopped on my own or increased or decreased the dose of medication my doctor prescribed? Have you ever been bothered by long-term medication? When going on a business trip, when traveling, do you ever forget to bring your medicine with you? In fact, there are many studies with different sets of questions that help gauge your compliance. However, if you think about it and find yourself answering YES to most of these questions, this advice is written for you.
Watch now: Treatment of hypertension: The most important thing is persistence, compliance

Adherence to treatment helps your disease to be treated more effectively, acute diseases are completely cured and avoid progression to chronic diseases. Treatment adherence is especially important for chronic diseases such as adherence to treatment for hypertension, diabetes, bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rheumatoid arthritis...
Not only helps Improve symptoms, long-term adherence also helps reduce the rate of complications and hospitalization. According to statistics, chronic diseases cause up to 70% of deaths in the United States, of which 20-50% of chronic patients do not adhere to treatment.
Adherence to treatment, especially not voluntarily increasing or decreasing the dose of the drug or voluntarily stopping the drug, significantly reduces the risk of drug side effects, including overdose or withdrawal syndrome or worsening of symptoms. when stopping the drug suddenly.
For acute diseases requiring antibiotic use, absolute adherence not only helps to increase the effectiveness of treatment, but also helps to reduce the risk of drug resistance and reduce resistance to bacteria. community when disposing of inappropriately disposed antibiotics.

Missing medication is a common inadvertent cause of decreased adherence. However, forgetting medication can be a consequence of subjective psychology in young people, amnesia in older people without the support of relatives and family. Busy lives and treatments that are complex relative to the patient's cognitive and understanding abilities can also lead to missed medication.
Besides, the high cost of treatment or medicine is not available at home is also one of the common reasons leading to the abandonment of treatment after a short time or after the symptoms of the disease are relieved.
Inadequate knowledge and understanding of drugs or inadequate awareness of disease status and disease severity is also an important cause leading to subjective treatment or discontinuation of treatment without communicating with the patient. medical staff.
Psychology of fear of drug side effects is reinforced by rumors and word of mouth in folklore, which greatly affects the psychological treatment of patients, especially the elderly. Not only that, in case of real adverse effects, patients will be very confused and worried. Without proper advice or lack of trust in medical staff, patients may stop taking drugs or arbitrarily use other drugs of patients with similar medical conditions.
All of the above reasons may not be enough, but they are also important causes that you can see yourself in. Do not be afraid to talk to your doctor and pharmacist for advice and information support when needed.

First, talk to your doctor about your needs and finances, as well as your adherence problems. Your doctor will weigh and talk to you about the benefits and risks of treatments and the costs of each option so you can choose the treatment that's best for you.
Prepare a time to talk with the pharmacist at the hospital so that a dosing schedule is prepared to fit your schedule. In case you have multiple prescriptions, the pharmacist will help you to combine the prescriptions in a unified dosing schedule. This is especially beneficial for patients with multiple chronic medications.
Spend time listening to drug information advice from pharmacists. They can exchange to assess your understanding, adjust and add necessary information to avoid wasting your time and increase the effectiveness of the consultation. Don't just passively listen to advice, ask questions if you're wondering and ask the pharmacist to stop and explain. Finally, try repeating the day's summary of your medication to make sure you remember the important information. Your pharmacist can send you a summary of your day's dosing and important notes so you can read more about taking your medications at home.
Currently, the means that can support you to adhere to medication treatment such as pill dispensers of different sizes, smart phones, software to remind you, reminders to remind you to schedule periodic appointments...
In the treatment of many chronic diseases, drug manufacturers have begun to pay more attention to the formulation of tablets that combine multiple drugs. In the future, perhaps, these combination tablets will be more present in Vietnam to support patients to increase drug adherence.
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