Non-Compliance, Non-Adherence: We All Do It
Do you fall under the category of non-compliance when it comes to medicine and healthcare? Don’t we all? Yes; and according to the article, "The Noncompliance Epidemic- Why Are So Many Patients Noncompliant?" by Neil Chesanow on Medscape.com, the correct term is non-adherence. In the midst of our fast-paced, eventful lives most of us let prescriptions and medicine fall to the bottom of our list of priorities. In fact, 75% of patients surveyed, out of 1000, admitted to not always taking their medication as directed. In a study from the U.S., over 50% of the 3.8 billion prescriptions filled, a year, are either taken incorrectly or not taken at all. Imagine the economic impact this has on the healthcare system, not only in the U.S. but also all around the world. For example, 40% of nursing home admissions can be traced back to non-adherence with past medications. Also, it is 5.4 times more likely to be hospitalized, rehospitalized, or to suffer premature death for a person who is not compliant/adherent compared to one who is.
Well it’s not all our fault, right? Right; there are so many different reasons and causes for non-adherence and no individual is the same. Causes range from multiple psychological emotions to different physical states or behaviors. One can be put into a fragile emotional state due to things like divorce, job loss, or any traumatic event and this makes it easy to forget or not feel obligated to follow medical instructions. These events or moments in a person’s life can also make prescriptions and medicine unaffordable, which is very common.
The real problem with non-adherence is not the personal issues; those are only the beginning. The real problem is the lack of communication between the health professional and the patient. Whether the patient doesn’t feel comfortable contacting their doctor, they don’t particular like their doctor, they don’t feel the need to contact him/her, they don’t know which one to contact, or they simply don’t have the time; communication is key.
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At Medtep, we make it almost impossible for the patient and the health professionals to lose contact. On your uPatient account you have access to all of your health professionals, doctors, and/or specialists all in one place, all the time. The uClinic accounts make it simple for health professionals to check-in with patients daily, in order to avoid any lack of communication.
As a typical patient spends nearly 5000 hours a year living their life, while only a few are spent in the office of their doctor, lack of contact is sure to make him/her slip off of their regimen. For example, 6 months after 240,000 patients were given a new prescription for an antidepressant, less than 30% were still taking the medication.
Another form of miscommunication is simply the doctor not understanding the patient’s preferences and not listening to their views on the disease or medication, according to the authors of a paper that analyzes the doctor-patient interaction. Also according to researchers, due to the doctor’s feelings of anxiety or anger, the overall success of the consultation majorly decreases; which leads to the failure of the patient’s adherence to recommendations.
It is completely understandable that medical non-adherence occurs with everyone. The Medscape article even mentions a group of doctors that admitted to stop taking personal medication after about 6 months. Everyone does it! Within the past few decades, the level of non-adherence has been at a statically low level, but it can change.
Medtep offers a personal, easy, and affordable service to maintain a healthy and beneficial relationship with yourself and your health professional or patient.
For more eye-opening statistics go to Medscape.com
Medtep Team
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