Non Adherence Essay

Medication non-adherence is an important healthcare challenge that has significant consequences in regards to patient outcomes, attainment of healthcare goals and healthcare costs. Patients are considered non-adherent when they do not initiate or abide by their prescribed healthcare recommendations. The three common types of non-adherence are primary non-adherence, non-persistent and non-conforming. Primary non-adherence occurs when although the healthcare provider has written the prescribed medication, the patient does not initiate the medication therapy. Non-persistent non-adherence occurs primarily due to miscommunication between the healthcare provider and the patient in regards to the recommended healthcare plan. In addition, non-persistent

According to Kane, Kishimoto & Correll (2013) patients who are non-adherent have a higher rate of hospitalization, relapses, antibiotic resistance, increased disease progression and overall poor quality of care. The rate and risk for hospitalization for patients diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and congestive heart failure was double than that of adherent patients with the same healthcare conditions. Additionally, non-adherence results in approximately 125000 patient deaths annually in America (Iuga & McGuire, 2010). As a result, healthcare professionals and stakeholders should identify interventions to address the high rate of non-adherence. The specific interventions should be based on the underlining factors that cause

The causes of non-adherence in chronic and acute patients include; behavioural and lifestyle choices, lack of adequate resources and lack of adequate healthcare education from healthcare professionals. According to Zhang, Lee & Meltzer (2014) patients often lack the ability to read and understand the instructions for their medication due to lack of education from their healthcare personnel. Therefore, patients are unable to meet their minimum adherence requirements leading to increased non-adherence rates. Therefore Zhang, Lee & Meltzer (2014) recommends that the prescription requirements should be simplified for patients to have a deeper understanding of their prescriptions. In addition, healthcare professionals should promote provider-patient relationships with the aim of explaining all the key information in regards to the healthcare