Survey Reveals Significant Noncompliance With Medication
ccording to a national medication adherence survey1 just released by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and Pharmacists for the Protection of Patient Care (P3C), “nearly three out of every four consumers admit they don’t always take their prescription medications as directed.”
Interestingly, 64 percent of respondents said they follow their physician’s instructions “extremely closely,” but 74 percent also admit to non-adherent behavior.
Other findings follow:
- 49 percent said they had forgotten to take a prescribed medication.
- 31 percent had not filled a prescription they were given.
- 24 percent had taken less than the recommended dosage.
- 11 percent had substituted an over- the-counter medication instead of filling the prescription they were given.
The survey’s press release goes on, “The good news out of the survey was that consumers appeared open to tapping into the unique expertise of their pharmacist in order to improve medication adherence.”
More than two-thirds (68 percent) said pharmacists are more knowledgeable than other health care professionals when it comes to information about prescription medications.
Nearly nine out of 10 (86 percent) said they would be likely to talk to their pharmacist about their medications.
Source: Take As Directed: A Prescription Not Followed; New Survey Shows Improper Medication Use Reaching Crisis Proportions 12/15/2006
Commentary
While the noncompliance results are hardly surprising, they are useful numbers and reinforce or complement earlier findings. Cynic that I am, I am less impressed with the findings of a survey sponsored by two groups of pharmacists that those surveyed had positive responses to queries about their confidence in pharmacists. Watching market research being carried out over a span of several years, I am acutely aware of the effect the phrasing of a survey’s queries has in prompting a wished-for response. On the other hand, I do believe pharmacists may have a unique, potentially effective role to play as compliance enhancement agents.
- The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted by the Polling Company, Inc. between Oct. 25-29. The margin of error for the survey is 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.↩