In the intricate web of healthcare, patient adherence to medication stands as a fundamental yet often overlooked aspect. Ensuring patients take their medications as prescribed can significantly impact their health outcomes.
However, achieving optimal patient adherence requires more than your own attention to detail — you’ll need a little help from your friends. Let's delve deeper into why patient adherence is crucial and how various strategies can enhance it.
Okay, we haven’t uncovered a new meaning or definition for patient adherence. It's a simple one:
Per the World Health Organization, patient adherence is “the degree to which the person’s behavior corresponds with the agreed recommendations from a healthcare provide.”
In short, patient adherence is all about making sure your patients take their medications as their prescriber intended. As a pharmacist, you play a central role in ensuring your patients are following the prescription instructions to the letter.
It invariably makes your patients healthier or — at the very least — gives prescribers a clear picture as to how a certain medication is working on their patients. A 30-day medication regimen isn’t such if they still have leftover pills by day 45.
Patient communication is an essential part of all things patient care. Effectively communicating with your patients can be the main difference between a good health journey and a prosperous one. It's also a proven way to promote patient adherence.
Another way to enhance your patient communication is to be more purposeful with your patient consultations. Every health journey is unique, so take the time to understand how a certain medication can impact a patient’s trajectory.
Talk to them about how often they’re taking their medications, ensuring a 30-day supply of medications does run out after 30 days. Answer any questions they may have. This will only make them learn more about the medications they’re taking. Also, they will appreciate you for taking the time to talk to them. Remember, your patient’s success becomes your pharmacy’s success.
For more on patient counseling, read our blog, “Master the Art of Patient Counseling.”
Sometimes the best method is to go directly to the source. Your relationship with physicians goes a long way in determining your pharmacy’s good standing with the community. It can also sway a patient’s health journey.
Having a clear and open dialogue with your patients’ physicians ensures effective patient adherence. Putting your patient into a med sync program streamlines their medication regimen, giving their physician a clear vision of where their current health journey may lead. All it takes is a simple conversation (and a few more complex pharmacy tasks but that’s neither here nor there).
To quote an episode from the Catalyst Pharmacy Podcast, “Med sync is Pharmacy 101, not the pinnacle.” By now, medication synchronization is supposed to be a given in your pharmacy. It is a tried and tested super service for chain and independent pharmacies alike. What's more, it can play a pivotal role in your patients’ health journeys.
Med sync takes the theory of patient adherence and puts it into practice. It also brings much-needed stability and consistency to both your pharmacy’s workflow and patient’s life.
On the pharmacy side, a successful med sync program lets your pharmacy fill all a patient’s prescriptions, not having to worry about a leftover script.
Naturally, this makes the patient’s experience even more convenient. Med sync ensures that patients take only one trip to the pharmacy to pick up all their medications. This promotes patient adherence while maximizing patient convenience, a vital equation in your pharmacy’s success.
For more on the fundamentals of med sync, check out this episode of the Catalyst Pharmacy Podcast featuring the “Godfather of Med Sync” himself, Bob Lomenick.
The better your patient communication, the stronger your pharmacy’s patient adherence becomes. One of the best ways to achieve your pharmacy’s goals is to leverage your pharmacy technology, namely your pharmacy software. And if you’re already a PioneerRx user, you’re in luck.
Your PioneerRx pharmacy software is chockful of features that can promote greater patient adherence.
Let's start with the simple stuff: effective communication. PioneerRx’s Patient Notifications feature is a simple but effective way to let your patients know when their prescription is ready.
Patients lead busy lives (those rush peak times speak to this). A simple text can go a long way in ensuring effective patient adherence.
The feature also lets them set their notification preferences, from preferred language to whether they prefer calls or text messages.
Read our blog, “7 PioneerRx Features to Grow Your Pharmacy’s Profitability” to learn more about some PioneerRx features to enhance your pharmacy’s finances.
PioneerRx’s Sync Specialists are here to guide your pharmacy to help grow your own med sync program. These specialists have years of experience and a thorough understanding of the medication synchronization process and the inherent importance of patient adherence.
If you’re a PioneerRx user, visit PioneerRx University to view training videos and the Help File with step-by-step instructions on how to implement med sync within your software. With PioneerRx by your side, you can master med sync and patient adherence with ease.
Not a PioneerRx user? Click here to schedule a demo and see how PioneerRx can transform your pharmacy operations.
Patient adherence to medication is not merely a checkbox to mark off in healthcare provision; it's a cornerstone for better health outcomes. From fostering effective patient communication to leveraging pharmacy technology, each step plays a pivotal role in ensuring medication consistency.
By embracing these strategies, pharmacists can empower patients to adhere to their treatment plans diligently, thereby fostering a healthier community. The road to a sunny health journey starts with adherence, and every effort in this direction counts.
