4 Tips for Improving Patients’ Medication Adherence
If you manage or operate a personal care home, long-term care facility, group home, or any other facility that houses residents who need pharmaceutical care, then you understand the importance of medication adherence. Without proper adherence, health conditions go untreated or unmanaged, which often results in further illness or medical complications.
Experiencing poor patient outcomes is never the goal for a facility like yours. However, it is possible to observe a decline in patient health across your facility if medication adherence is not encouraged, supported, or prioritized. To help you improve medication adherence among your residents or maintain a high level of adherence, check out these tips that support both your patients and your staff on the journey to better pharmaceutical care and patient outcomes:
1. Prioritize Educating Patients on Their Medications
One of the biggest reasons a patient may stop taking their medication or not take it as directed is because they are not adequately educated on what it is for and what they can expect from taking it.
Without a proper understanding of their prescriptions, patients can:
- Stop taking a medication because it has made them feel good enough to think they no longer need it
- Stop taking a medication because it causes side effects that make them fear the medication is doing more harm than good
- Stop taking a medication because they don’t notice any changes to their health and assume it is a pointless medication to take
- Never begin taking a medication because they were not adequately informed of its purpose and the medical benefits of maintaining proper administration
Patients deserve to know why they were prescribed something, what to expect once they begin administering the prescription, how long they are supposed to take the medication, and other important details surrounding medication administration.
If a patient is having trouble adhering to the directions for their medications, allow them to ask questions about their medications and offer easy-to-understand answers whenever possible that inform them or remind them of why medication adherence is important. You can also encourage them to stick with their medication regimen if they are having a hard time with side effects or are not convinced the medication is effective.
Some patients, especially older patients or those who struggle with their memory, may forget why they need to take their prescriptions, even if the pharmacist and your team have reminded them many times before. As frustrating as it can be sometimes to have to reeducate by explaining the same thing multiple times to the same patient(s), it’s okay. Providing continuous reminders is beneficial to the patient, even if the reminder is short-lived in their memory.
2. Prioritize Educating Staff on Medication Adherence Best Practices and More
Your staff is educated and trained to provide comprehensive care to your residents. However, some staff members may not be up-to-speed on specific tactics and best practices for improving medication adherence among your patients or residents.
Through routine training sessions and continuing education opportunities, you can help ensure your team is informed and on the same page about getting patients to stick to their medication regimens and improving or maintaining medication adherence across your facility.
Some education or training topics you can cover as a team include:
- How to effectively communicate with/educate patients about their medications.
- How to conduct patient assessments and evaluations to determine how much they understand about the medications they have been prescribed, understand barriers preventing them from adhering to their medications, and more.
- How to apply various communication styles with each patient for optimal outcomes.
- How to approach patients who have dementia or other cognitive complications.
3. Prioritize Pharmacy Consultations, Medication Reviews, and Medication Inspections
If you are working with a partner pharmacy to handle all your facility’s pharmaceutical needs, you likely have a team of pharmacists who automatically provide important services like pharmacy consultations, medication reviews, and medication inspections. All three are vital to improving medication adherence and ensuring each patient is taking what they need and taking what is safe for them.
Pharmacy Consultations
Pharmacy consulting service allows your pharmacist to review patient records, charts, and other important documents for the safety of your patients and your facility. Through consultations, your pharmacist can help ensure patients have the support they need for medication adherence and that your staff is equipped with the tools needed to assist patients with their medications. Consultations can also ensure that your facility complies with state and federal regulations and make recommendations if improvements need to be made.
Medication Reviews
A medication review allows each patient to have one-on-one conversations with their pharmacist to learn about their medications, what each prescription’s dosage is, what their medication regimen might look like, etc. It’s also a time for the patient to ask questions, share their concerns, share about side effects they have been experiencing, and provide any additional information that the pharmacist needs to be aware of. The more information provided during each patient’s review, the more likely medication adherence is to improve across your facility.
Medication Inspections
A facility greatly benefits from medication inspections performed by its partner pharmacist. A medication inspection involves your pharmacist analyzing medication carts, making sure all prescription medications are stored properly and labeled correctly, and examining expiration dates to ensure no patient is receiving expired medications.
Not only do medication inspections protect patients and boost medication adherence, but they also ensure state and federal compliance and support facilities in their efforts to remain deficiency-free!
4. Train Patients on Various Medication Adherence Support Tools
From daily pill boxes to smartphone apps to compliance packaging, several tools can help patients stay on track with their medication adherence. For some, a seven-day pill box is all they need to keep up with their daily medications. Others may be savvy enough to stay on top of things with a medication-tracking app. Compliance packaging is a universal solution that makes it easy to take the proper medication at the right time every day or night.
Every patient is different, and what works best for them is going to work best for them. Supporting each patient as they learn their options and become accustomed to the routine of tracking their medications can help improve or maintain medication adherence at your facility.
Angus Lake Healthcare is your independent pharmacy, ready to partner with you to help improve or maintain medication adherence among your patients.
As an independent pharmacy, we’re able to partner with facilities, homes, and more to provide the pharmaceutical care residents need to adhere to their medications and continue their treatment or management plans. It’s our goal to be your single solution, providing all pharmacy services, including pharmacy services, medication consultations, medication reviews, medication inspections, compliance packaging, deliveries, and more.
To learn more about our capabilities and the services we can provide you, schedule a consultation with Angus Lake Healthcare today: 478-233-1828.
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