Medication Adherence Research Paper

Medication adherence is very important in achieving patient’s therapeutic goal as it is the pinnacle of good therapeutic outcome and effective pharmacological response of drugs. The points below will help us understand the important role and how critical medication adherence is in the healthcare system.
I. In particular disorder like epilepsy, medication adherence is important to maintain a constant serum drug concentration to avoid convulsion in epileptic patients. Sodium valproate is considered as an epileptic drug that requires high adherence to reduce the risk of convulsive episodes in patients.
II. In chronic disease state that will likely lead to long or short term complications if drug adherence is low. A long-term untreated diabetic

a. The most common way to improve medication adherence is by talking to the patient. Educating the patient on the importance of drug adherence and why it is important for the betterment of their health.
b. Pharmacists are trained to have good communication skills for educating the patient and should be done using simple and common words for the patient’s easy understanding.
c. The pharmacist helps the patient understand the precautions, the possible side effects, how and when to take the medication, how long the medication should be taken for, what to do if a dose was to be missed and explain drug-food interactions. A one on one talk with the pharmacist will enable a platform where the patient can clear their doubt and summarize their understanding of their prescribed medication.
d. Most patients do not adhere to their medication due to the complexity of the dosage regime; in this, case the pharmacist can suggest that the prescriber breaks down the dose regime using medication cards or dosette to simplify the

Clinical pharmacists have better access and equipment to conduct therapeutic drug monitoring and determine the level of adherence to medication.
f. The pharmacist is in the best position to follow-up with the patient medication by giving frequent reminders through calls or text messages especially for patients with a busy lifestyle to ensure medication adherence is