January 2008
27 posts
“The SinuNEB SinusPharmacy is a device that nebulizes antibiotics, anti-fungals,...”
– Cancer Treatment: Aerosolized antibiotics SinuNEB
“Adherence over the first 12 months of therapy ranged from 82% to 88% in the...”
– Adherence to Initial Adjuvant Anastrozole Therapy Among Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer — Partridge et al. 26 (4): 556 — Journal of Clinical Oncology Adherence rates based on longitudinal claims data from three large commercialhealth programs for more than 12,000 women with early...
“QuiqMeds [is] a 2-year-old company that outfits doctors with these computerized...”
– A machine that may help your patients - Medical Economics
“While 70% of physicians counsel their patients about the benefits of exercise,...”
– The original miracle drug Dr. Yoel Abells, National Post (January 30, 2008)
“Economic models are applied to medication noncompliance. Traditional consumer...”
– Understanding Medication Compliance and Persistence from an Economics Perspective - Value Health, OnlineEarly Articles (Article Abstract)
Physician Counseling Promotes Healthier Lifestyle... →
“A simple physician counseling process during usual care visits is effective in encouraging sedentary overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes to have a healthier lifestyle, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial reported in the January 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.” CME available
The Psychotic Dilemma →
Shrink Rap presents a patient compliance conundrum that is all too common in psychiatric practice - managing anti-psychotic medications (that may or may not be causing diabetic problems) for a psychotic patient who vehemently denies the diagnosis. For what it’s worth, I’ve been there and done that and have no solution to offer.
Workplace Wellness Programs: Motivating Employees... →
This post by Steve Beller, PhD is one of the few pieces I’ve seen that presents a thoughtful take on both the advantages and disadvanages of wellness programs, both as a general concept and in specific applications.
“Approximately half of patients stop taking their weekly treatment within a year”
– Global Problem Of Adherence To Osteoporosis Treatment Puts Lives At Risk And Costs Billions Article is closely based on press Release from International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) includes report outlining fiscal and clinical impact of noncompliance in osteoporosis patients. The report signals...
The Importance Of Medication Compliance →
Basic speculations on causes of medication noncompliance and recommendations for improving adherence. Few references provided. Mostly directed toward elderly population
Medication Adherence and Compliance →
The usual basic array of noncompliance stats - e.g., “Non-compliance with drug treatment accounts for 125,000 deaths per year. 10% of hospital admissions and up to 23% of nursing home admissions each year could be avoided if people took their medications as prescribed. Neither gender, age, ethnicity or educational level seem to be an indicator of compliance.” References provided.
“33% of patients admit that they did not fill all their NEW prescriptions in the...”
– Cancer Patients and Pharmaceutical Compliance | Battling Cancer
“Uncontrolled diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, often leading to kidney failure,...”
– Diabetes costs USA more than wars, disasters, study says - USATODAY.com
“Having to pay as little as $10 of a mammogram’s cost leads many older...”
– Copays Lead Some to Skip Mammograms - washingtonpost.com Screening rates were more than 8 percent lower among women required to pay a copayment or percentage of the cost compared to those with full coverage, according to a study led by Dr. Amal Trivedi at Brown University. Results were published...
“Medicine is not set up to worry about what happens when people leave the...”
– The Modesto Bee | Lifesaving prescriptions often go unused by patients Good review of impact of noncompliance fiscally and clinically as well as wide range of potetial causes
“The article in Health Affairs outlines how a drug-licensing system might be used...”
– Researchers Propose Consumers Buy Yearly ‘Drug Licenses’ as New Way to Pay for Prescriptions
“Nobody knows why people lie to their doctors and nurses but we do have an...”
– Lies, lifestyle and longevity - Times Online Dr Copperfield, an Essex GP, expounds on the propensity of patients to mislead their clinicians about diet, vices, exercise, and other lifestyle choices and the National Health Service’s response - a plan to add a life check questionnaire to its NHS...
“The National Audit Office wants to print the cost of drugs on packets to...”
– From To improve compliance, start with doctors - The Evolving Patient Like Joanne Shaw, who authored this post, I know of no evidence that indicates that patients who recognize the cost of their medicines will be more likely to take them. The notion somehow reminds me of the angry parent treating...
“As far as I an remember, that was the only compliant patient I’ve ever had...”
– From Respiratory Therapy Cave, a blog written from “the humble perspective from a small town respiratory therapist.” This is a convincingly presented example of one of those practices that looks good on paper (using peak flow meters to determine if an asthmatic episode requires emergency...
Explaining Patients' Beliefs About the Necessity... →
Note: This is the abstract of the article referenced in the previously posted January/February 2008 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet. While the article alludes to patients’ beliefs and attitudes about medication exerting an effect on adherence, this study itself did not correlate these beliefs with measured compliance (see excerpt below). Excerpt: Purpose: Patients’ beliefs about...
The Placebo Effect (at Science Based Medicine) →
Excellent, thoughtful discussion of the Placebo Effect in clinical practice. Check Comments as well as post itself. Excerpt: I do not feel that knowingly prescribing a placebo treatment is effective or ethical medicine. Modern scientific medicine should strive for interventions that physiologically are scientifically plausible and have sufficient evidence for safety and effectiveness. But I do...
Study: Calls help couch potatoes walk →
Computer-based coaching improves Exercise Compliance: “Fitness research shows that when a computer talks the talk, even couch potatoes can be persuaded to walk the walk. Researchers at Stanford University, who studied sedentary people for a year, found that automated exercise reminder phone calls had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from human counselors.”
Wellness Programs May Face Legal Tests - WSJ.com →
“Regulatory guidelines recently issued by the department are likely to curtail the ability of employers to motivate workers to kick unhealthy habits. In effect, the guidelines close a legal loophole that could have allowed employers to make health insurance more expensive for unhealthy workers than for their colleagues.”
January/February 2008 Annals of Family Medicine... →
[Note: This is a press release] The following material is excerpted: Patients’ Beliefs About Antidepressants: Demographics and Clinical Characteristics A study aimed at identifying the demographic and clinical characteristics that account for patients’ beliefs about the necessity and harmfulness of antidepressants finds that skepticism about antidepressants is strongest among younger patients who...
The economic consequences of noncompliance in... →
[Note: Above link accesses abstact. The complete article is available without charge at Full Text PDF] The following material is excerpted from abstract: Objectives: To review studies on the cost consequences of compliance and/or persistence in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related conditions (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes and heart failure) published since 1995, and to evaluate the...
Americans Use Excessive Force, or None at All,... →
[Note: Above link accesses full text article named, which is a discussion of two original articles, “Out-of-pocket spending and medication adherence among dialysis patients in 12 countries” from the Jan 8, 2008 Journal Health Affairs and Nancy Wong and Tracey King, “The Cultural Construction of Risk Understandings through Illness Narratives.” Journal of Consumer Research: February...