Medication Compliance: Are Pharmacists Included As a Solution?

As pharmacists, our profession is well aware of the problem of medication compliance in the United States. Data has demonstrated that 20- to 30% of prescribed medications are never filled and that approximately 50% of medications for chronic diseases are not taken as prescribed. ^1,2 As the key health care personnel exposed to this problem on a daily basis, we utilize all the tools at our disposal to assist patients in optimizing medication compliance to improve their quality of life.

Recently, I came across 2 stories in the New York Times that just simply “aggravated me” as a pharmacist. One story goes on to explain that many approaches have been utilized over the years to assist patients with medication compliance including digital pills, digital pill timers, reminder packaging, pill organizers, electronic pill monitors, better education, financial incentives and social support. ³  The second story cited that the only reason identified that has successfully improved medication compliance was the cost of the medication. ^3,4

However, reading both of these New York Times articles did not just aggravate me as a pharmacist, but it also alarmed me that a major media outlet such as this did not have one single sentence addressing the need for pharmacists. As pharmacists, we think this is an automatic assumption that we are the medication experts and others should recognize our expertise. I am sorry to say that as a profession, I believe we are rarely recognized for our expertise. Repeatedly, the general media excludes the role pharmacists can have on this issue.

I believe we need to be much more engaged in public media outlets that are read by our consumers. Publishing data and research in our professional journals is one thing but being ignored because either someone may not be aware of your value or just not reaching the key opinion leaders is another.

I recommend that our professional organizations need to stand up and engage authors of public media outlets publishing anything pertaining to medication use. All pharmacists should be a voice and begin the process of reaching out to local or national media outlets to have your expertise published, be interviewed, or be a voice so our expertise begins to be recognized in the general media.

Michael J. Cawley, PharmD, RRT, CPFT, FCCM, is a professor of clinical pharmacy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences. He has more than 25 years of experience practicing in the areas of medical, surgical, trauma, and burn intensive care as both a critical care clinical pharmacist and registered respiratory therapist.

References:

1. Peterson AM, Takiya L, Finley R. Meta analysis of trials of interventions to improve medication adherence. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2003; 60:657-65.
2. Haynes RB, Ackloo E, Sahota N, McDonald HP, Yao X. Interventions for enhancing medication adherence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008; CD000011.
3. The New York Times. People Don’t Take Their Pills. Only One Thing Seems to Help. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/upshot/people-dont-take-their-pills-only-one-thing-seems-to-help.html. Accessed January 4, 2018.
4. The New York Times.  With Sickest Patients, Cost Sharing Comes at a Price. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/upshot/with-sickest-patients-cost-sharing-comes-at-a-price.html?rref=upshot&abt=0002&abg=0. Accessed January 2, 2018.