Patient compliance can be defined as the extent to which a treated person follows the prescription of a medical professional (Dutt, 2017). It implies that patients understand doctors’ recommendations, and beliefs in the effectiveness of the medicine and are motivated to act according to it (Mohiuddin, 2019). Patient adherence to medication is a cornerstone of medical practice, and the nursing sphere is not an exception. For instance, Flynn (2017) maintains that failure to adhere to doctors’ prescriptions results in approximately 125 thousand deaths yearly. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that individuals follow the instructions of medical personnel on every level.
Rothenberg (2003) suggests that healthcare professionals should seek to empower patients in their choices concerning treatment by providing necessary information to facilitate individual decisions. Moreover, medical workers should consider each patient’s behavior regarding medication, financial status, and health education. On the contrary, if the professional does not consider a person’s background, the chances of non-compliance increase. For instance, prescribing expensive pills to a poor person would guarantee treatment failure.
Although both terms compliance and adherence/collaboration generally imply that the patient follows the doctor’s recommendations, their connotation is not totally similar. The main difference between them is based on the premise that the former term may have negative connotations of power and submission, whereas the latter term means partnership (Falvo, 2011). Indeed, adherence presumes collaboration between stakeholders rather than coercive relations. Such partnership assumes a feeling of trust and mutual understanding between the healthcare professional and the treated person.
There was almost no consideration of the patient’s level of medical literacy in the past. Falvo (2011) argues that medical professionals considered that education was neither accessible to nor desired by treated individuals. On the other hand, the latter also believed that medical knowledge is hardly available to them, thus, entrusting all the responsibility for the medication process to the doctors. However, since the publication of “Patient’s Bill of Rights” (1975), this paradigm started shifting towards patient-centered education, meaning that individuals should be fully aware of their condition and treatment methods (Falvo, 2011).
The professional commitment to developing patients’ education is an important skill in the modern world. This means that healthcare workers should seek to provide the knowledge in a manner that would raise persons’ interest in treatment. For that reason, it is suggested that the former should communicate individualized information. In this regard, Reber (2018) claims that numerous studies found a positive relationship between personalized education and the rise of people’s level of engagement in the subject.
Learning can be divided into three distinct categories that include cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitudes), and psychomotor levels (skills), which should be addressed individually by medical professionals. For instance, diabetes patients could be taught about the disease itself and the symptoms (cognitive) and how to see the health problem as a part of one’s life – facilitate acceptance (attitudes). Also, they could be coached on how to monitor glucose at home (skills).
The three barriers that may deter patients’ education process include lack of awareness of its necessity from healthcare professionals, inadequate support of the workers by the managers, and lack of patient motivation to change one’s indifferent behavior. In order to solve these issues, medical institutions should, firstly, promote evidence-based healthcare that not only leads to a rise in doctors’ awareness of patient education necessity but also provides proven teaching methods. Secondly, hospitals should encourage inter-professional collaboration that would lead to coordinated actions toward patient education. Finally, the government should seek to promote an overall culture of medical literacy among individuals to make them more responsible in promoting and managing personal health.
Falvo (2011) states that “documentation may consist of a simple check sheet” or be “a simple note on the patient’s chart” (p. 54). It can be very important in facilitating the learning process of individuals, especially when it involves several professionals and is extended over a long period (Falvo, 2011). In this case, recorded information may serve as an effective communication means and reminder.
References
Dutt, S. (2017). Importance of patient adherence and compliance in the present day. Journal of Bacteriology & Mycology: Open Access, 4(5), 150-152.
Falvo, D. (2011). Effective patient education: A guide to increased adherence (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Flynn, J. (2017). Breaking barriers to patient compliance. Minority Nurse.
Mohiuddin, A. K. (2019). Patient compliance: Fact or fiction? Innovations in Pharmacy, 10(1).
Reber, R., Canning, E. A., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2018). Personalized education to increase interest. Current directions in psychological science, 27(6), 449-454.
Rothenberg, G. M. (2003). How to facilitate better patient compliance. Podiatry Today.