Adherence to Medical Advice Essay

Patient's decision-making is influenced by several factors. Patients may change their decisions, from accepting or refusing treatment depending on the available treatment options. The capacity of the individual to make informed medical decisions can differ as the patient's status changes cognitively, emotionally, and/or physically and as the proposed treatment interventions change. Treatment refusal is a common situation faced by clinicians. Patients do not usually refuse the medical advice if the advice is of good intention. When patients refuse an advice, it indicates some underlying reasons related to the patients or family, factors associated with the physician as well as social and organizational issues.

Findings from WP1 revealed the following themes as barriers for medication administration: resistance to medication, fear of medication and experienced side effects, practical problems and complexity of treatment, time-consuming nature of treatment, embarrassment/stigma and formulation of medication. There were some facilitators for successful medication administration. Overall there was a lack of information about children with multiple allergies. Themes for barriers to medication administration on online forum discussions in WP2 were resistance to medication, fear of medication, anger at medication, the difficulty of using medications, dislike of formulation, and side effects. The consequences of resisting to medication were parents having

Some of the factors that patients do not adhere to when their healthcare provider tells them too is due to patients being too busy. Often times life is very busy as we all know this but forgetting to take of yourself can have detrimental effects to your health. Some people think they can get better on their own without the help of a doctor so they feel like they will be fine or able to handle any health complication on their own. Another reason is that often people do not understand or they forget what the doctor is telling them about their prescribed treatment regimens and other patients decide to simply not follow it. As stated in the article by Sklar, Min Sen Oh & & Chuen Li, 2008 “Poor communication with healthcare providers was also likely to cause a negative effect on patient’s compliance (Bartlett et al 1984; Apter et al 1998)”. Miscommunication between a doctor and patient is at the root of most adherence problems. Often times patients leave their doctors office not knowing or having the slightest clue to what they should be doing. Instead of asking for help or clarity they just leave. Communication needs to be clear and effective for both the patient and the doctor. Non-adherence is wide spread when it comes to patients not adhering to what professionals tell them. Many patients will have significant risks because they forget,

One strategy that has shown to improve medication compliance and outcomes for patient with asthma is the provision of Asthma Action Plans (AAP). The Asthma Action Plan or AAP is widely recognized as the best tool for asthma self-management and has been demonstrated to improve outcomes for asthmatics. The AAP is a detailed plan that describes medications and treatments, how to control asthma, and how to address worsening asthma. The plan also describes when to call the doctor or go to the emergency room. The plan breaks down the severity of symptoms and treatment by color helping those with limited language skills and low health literacy the ability to understand the asthma treatment plan. (Nepaul et al.,

The Medicines Act 1968:- The Medicines Act controls the manufacture and supply of medicines for human and veterinary use. The act defines three categories of the supply of drugs; Prescription only medicines, Pharmacy Medicine, and General sales list medicines the act controls

Negative reinforcement by instilling fear to comply is unethical and if a patient refuses treatment after information giving this must be accepted (Haynes et al. 2002:2881). Documentation is a vital tool to protect health professionals in this situation (Loveridge 2005:19). The promotion of concordance must be within a framework of health promotion as medication compliance is a learned response in health management and self-efficacy (Embrey 2006:510).

How medical decision making aides the health care professional and the patient regarding the patient’s treatment, medical cost and autonomy.

So, my doctor always have many recommendations, which means he usually gives me some type of regimen to follow once I get home, but that’s a whole-nother story.(smile) I’m sure that non-compliance with advice/awareness and/or treatment recommendations is probably the top complaint doctors have about most patients. But, I think, compliance these days can be a lot more complex than just remembering to take a pill because doctors are sending patients (including me) home with long lists of self-care tasks. Nonetheless, maintaining healthier life styles can be difficult to manage and/or, in some cases, for patients to afford. Though, compliance doesn't certainly mean following the doctor's instructions diligently, but some patients don't follow treatment programs because they are unorganized, and others might fail to comply because they've experienced severe side effects and don't fully understand what they're supposed to do, and/or found the treatment wasn't working. So, I feel that doctors need to make it safe for patients to bring up these sort of things. Perhaps that's why patients are thinking only of their own conditions, whereas doctors are thinking of the overall effectiveness with all of their patients, including those with chronic conditions that are difficult to diagnose and treat, such as Myasthenia Gravis which is an immune disorder (which my mother has), headaches, neck and back

Imagine a time you had a bad experience at the doctor’s office, whether you felt out of place, embarrassed, uncomfortable, judged, or felt down about yourself. If you do not have any bad experiences at the doctor then think about what might make someone's visit with a doctor go wrong. Many people are very sensitive when it comes to putting their trust into another person’s hands, especially when it comes to their health. When it comes down to relying on someone there are a lot of different ways it takes people to learn if they can completely depend on another person. When it comes to doctors, some people may just take their word just because they have a medical degree, but others it takes time to figure out if a doctor is trustworthy. I would

Sometimes physicians go so far as to make patients feel belittled and helpless. Patients, in turn, are relatively passive and accommodating, at least while they are with their doctors"(du Pre 53).

Adherence to medication therapy can be described as the degree of which a prescribed medical regiment, as directed by a health care provider, is being actively followed by a patient. Considering how it is an active role to be followed by the patient, this would designate both the patient and health care provider as responsible in the attainment of a healthy outcome. As such, there exists lots of variability in the rate of adherence (Ho et al, 2009). Even beyond the health status of an individual, nonadherence as it currently stands in its prevalence can lead to a great deal of costs to health care and hospitalization when a patients health becomes compromised as a result (McDonald et al, 2005). When one party in an agreement cannot be dependent to do their part, it becomes up to the other group to take initiative to reach their mutual goal henceforth becoming the duty of the health care professional to step in and coordinate the care plan. Provided a wide array of professionals, the pharmacist and their expertise in medicine arise as the most suited in the improvement in patient adherence to medication therapies.

"Century after century, the belief that an individual’s physical health was independent of his or her emotional health has so dominated medical thought that there has even been open contempt for anyone who would dare to claim that a person’s physical well-being is the sum of its internal and external influences." (Sandy Oshiro Rosen (Bare: The Misplaced Art of Grieving and Dancing))

Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) are designed to improve the quality of healthcare services, decrease unwanted, ineffective and harmful interventions for patients. CPG are used to facilitate treatments for each individual patient’s by maximizing the benefits, minimizing the risk of harm and obtain treatment with an acceptable cost. Researchers had proven that CPG is a bridge for change and improving health outcomes. The effectiveness of CPG is perceived to be helpful in clinical decision making. CPG are developed to assist healthcare providers such as doctors and nurses in decision making for specific clinical outcomes (Vlayen, et. al. 2005)

Medical documentation is the recording an storing patient information so it can be use to communicate in the healthcare setting an for future use. The steps in medical documentation are:

My Pulse rises, my pupils widen, my heart skips a beat, and I may be little out of breath. I am experiencing an adrenalin rush. This is what I experience when I go to the VA facility in Loma Linda. It is a conditioned response from years of dealing with the VA system. Now, I feel this way anytime I go to visit the Doctors office. There are many reasons for this. Long wait times are frustrating, especially for someone with PTSD. The fact that there are more germs in a doctor’s offices is a source of worry as well. The young and seeming inexperienced medical staff does not give me confidence in their ability. I believe that visits to the doctor can prove more traumatic than the illness.