MEDICALLY NONCOMPLIANT: ANYONE YOU KNOW?
Medconditions.net supplies a definition of noncompliance: "Patient or client refusal of or resistance to medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)"
Any experienced physician will tell you that noncompliant patients present serious problems. It is difficult to tell whether a recommendation or prescription is helping the patient because the physician doesn't really know whether the patient is following the recommendation or has filled (or is taking the prescription or treatment in a manner consistent the doctor's instructions). Is the patient's heart function deteriorating because the medicine is not working or is the patient not taking the medicine? Is the patient getting sicker because of the medicine or in spite of it? Is the patient's back pain worsening because there is increasing structural damage to the spine or back muscles or because the patient is not performing the exercise program that, if he or she had gone to the physical therapist, would normally have improved the discomfort?
Ten questions:
1. Are you a patient who doesn't follow the doctor's advice because you have good reasons not to trust the doctor's competence?
2. When the doctor gives you a prescription, do you go to the internet to research the drug or program before filling it?
3. When the doctor gives you a prescription for a generic drug, do you insist that the pharmacist provide the branded version because your insurance will pay for it and the branded drug is better?
4. Do you ask the pharmacist (or has the pharmacist been found) to give you less than the amount of the drug prescribed (i.e., fewer pills) to save money?
5. Do you cut non-scored pills into two or more pieces so that, by taking half a pill daily they will last longer,to save money?
6. Do you take the prescription drug every day as prescribed, or do you skip days?
7. Do you borrow pills from friends, or give some of your supply to friends who are running short?
8. Do you store your pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet (warm, well-lighted and moist) or in a cool dark place which may be a little out of your way?
9. Do you ask the pharmacist for pill bottle caps which are not child resistant because you keep the bottle in your purse or nightstand (including when you visit grandchildren) and find it a nuisance to open the child resistant bottles?
10. Do you put all your pills for the next week in one bottle (such as an old unlabeled medicine container) and take them out as needed?
Note: some of the links which follow are to opinions which may conflict with mine, which also follow.
Comment: 1. If you don't trust the doctor's competence, find another doctor quickly. 2. If you research the drug on the internet (at a reputable site which provides verifiable authoritative evidence for its opinions and information) you may qualify as a patient who pays attention, not a non-compliant patient. 3. The doctor's generic prescription is equivalent in effectiveness and you are wasting money and driving up the nation's health bill. 4. The pharmacist should fill the prescription as written or call the doctor to verify that the doctor agrees with your request. 5. Not only are non-scored pills not suitable for breaking or cutting (the active ingredients may not be distributed evenly throughout the pill and you may get more or less drug than you expect) but your total dose may not be correct. See link above for a conflicting opinion. 6. Skipping days needs to be discussed honestly with your doctor because you are not getting the treatment program the doctor expects. 7, Giving or taking pills may harm yourself or someone near and dear to you because the pills may be out of date, another strength, or perhaps inactive pills bought on the internet. 8. Some medicines seriously degrade in warm moist well-lighted environments and may actually damage you (i.e., your kidneys). 9. Kids experiment by taking grandparents' pills and get sick. Get child resistant caps and always use them. Don't be responsible for the illness or death of a child. 10. The unlabeled or incorrectly labeled bottle full of pills is the bane of emergency department doctors: they have to figure out what the pills are, whether you have taken them, and how they were prescribed. Keep pills in clearly marked original containers.
HAPPY SAFE HEALTHY NEW YEAR.
Medconditions.net supplies a definition of noncompliance: "Patient or client refusal of or resistance to medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)"
Any experienced physician will tell you that noncompliant patients present serious problems. It is difficult to tell whether a recommendation or prescription is helping the patient because the physician doesn't really know whether the patient is following the recommendation or has filled (or is taking the prescription or treatment in a manner consistent the doctor's instructions). Is the patient's heart function deteriorating because the medicine is not working or is the patient not taking the medicine? Is the patient getting sicker because of the medicine or in spite of it? Is the patient's back pain worsening because there is increasing structural damage to the spine or back muscles or because the patient is not performing the exercise program that, if he or she had gone to the physical therapist, would normally have improved the discomfort?
Ten questions:
1. Are you a patient who doesn't follow the doctor's advice because you have good reasons not to trust the doctor's competence?
2. When the doctor gives you a prescription, do you go to the internet to research the drug or program before filling it?
3. When the doctor gives you a prescription for a generic drug, do you insist that the pharmacist provide the branded version because your insurance will pay for it and the branded drug is better?
4. Do you ask the pharmacist (or has the pharmacist been found) to give you less than the amount of the drug prescribed (i.e., fewer pills) to save money?
5. Do you cut non-scored pills into two or more pieces so that, by taking half a pill daily they will last longer,to save money?
6. Do you take the prescription drug every day as prescribed, or do you skip days?
7. Do you borrow pills from friends, or give some of your supply to friends who are running short?
8. Do you store your pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet (warm, well-lighted and moist) or in a cool dark place which may be a little out of your way?
9. Do you ask the pharmacist for pill bottle caps which are not child resistant because you keep the bottle in your purse or nightstand (including when you visit grandchildren) and find it a nuisance to open the child resistant bottles?
10. Do you put all your pills for the next week in one bottle (such as an old unlabeled medicine container) and take them out as needed?
Note: some of the links which follow are to opinions which may conflict with mine, which also follow.
Comment: 1. If you don't trust the doctor's competence, find another doctor quickly. 2. If you research the drug on the internet (at a reputable site which provides verifiable authoritative evidence for its opinions and information) you may qualify as a patient who pays attention, not a non-compliant patient. 3. The doctor's generic prescription is equivalent in effectiveness and you are wasting money and driving up the nation's health bill. 4. The pharmacist should fill the prescription as written or call the doctor to verify that the doctor agrees with your request. 5. Not only are non-scored pills not suitable for breaking or cutting (the active ingredients may not be distributed evenly throughout the pill and you may get more or less drug than you expect) but your total dose may not be correct. See link above for a conflicting opinion. 6. Skipping days needs to be discussed honestly with your doctor because you are not getting the treatment program the doctor expects. 7, Giving or taking pills may harm yourself or someone near and dear to you because the pills may be out of date, another strength, or perhaps inactive pills bought on the internet. 8. Some medicines seriously degrade in warm moist well-lighted environments and may actually damage you (i.e., your kidneys). 9. Kids experiment by taking grandparents' pills and get sick. Get child resistant caps and always use them. Don't be responsible for the illness or death of a child. 10. The unlabeled or incorrectly labeled bottle full of pills is the bane of emergency department doctors: they have to figure out what the pills are, whether you have taken them, and how they were prescribed. Keep pills in clearly marked original containers.
HAPPY SAFE HEALTHY NEW YEAR.
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