Objective Assessment of the Relationship between the Patient's Understanding of Drug Therapy and Medication

Abstract

The effect of the patients understanding of the prescribed drugs regarding medication compliance were studied in 425 in-patients based on an objective assessment of their understanding of drug therapy and their compliance.
Each objective subject was assessed by three grades at initial and final drug consultation by pharmacists. The group who showed an improvement in their overall understanding of drug therapy also showed an improved medication compliance. The other group who showed an insignificant improvement in drug therapy, in contrast, showed a poor medication compliance.
These results suggested that the patient's level of influences of drug therapy thus understanding medication compliance, and, as a result, an improvement in the patients understanding of drug therapy based on consultation with pharmacists can therefore help to improve their medication compliance.