Is Pharmacology Difficult Podcast -MEDICATION ADHERENCE

Welcome all to IS PHARMACOLOGY DIFFICULT Podcast! I am Dr Radhika Vijay

In this episode, I will talk about  Medication Adherence

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of this Pharmacology Difficult podcast. Today we'll be talking about the topic medication adherence. Let's first understand what is medication adherence. It means taking medicines correctly at the right dose at the right time for the recommended time period. This is all done in supervision of a medical physician or doctor. You would be surprised to know that this is one of the biggest challenges in society and healthcare all around the world. Let us have a thought about the reasons for this problem. Generally, we think patients are careless, but it is always not that hindrance. It is the right time to understand open-mindedly that life is complicated. First and foremost, we need to know why patients stop taking the medicine. When we read theoretical books, we read about diagnosis, prescription, and recovery, and it all seems so very simple. But life is not linear. Many patients stop their medicines early, and the common reason is that is because they feel better and they feel that they have fully recovered. That is one of the reasons. First one, second reason is that it is totally opposite, and it is because they sometimes feel no improvement at all at an early stage in the health. Now other miscellaneous reasons include expenses of the medicines, forgetfulness, multiple medicines, busy life routines, knowledge, and fear of side effects. Then chronic illnesses, tiredness, confusion, and fear. All these are miscellaneous reasons for which the patients may stop their medicines early. Emotions too play a role. Taking the medicines is a reminder of being sick, which nobody likes to be. Sometimes doses are skipped intentionally, sometimes doses are altered by the patients for no good reason. In chronic illnesses like high blood pressure, depression, diabetes, tuberculosis, etc., poor medicine-taking routines can lead to serious adverse effects. I am a doctor, you are doctors too. We all simply think, why did the patient not take the medicine as they were told to? Do you really feel? Pharmacology is only chemistry? No. It is also an interplay of psychology, emotion, behavior, and routines. It does not happen in laboratory isolation, but also inside daily human skin views. Medicine will work only if the patient takes the medicine, I mean in reality, and in real life. Every prescription is packed with finances, personal fears, stress, and a bundle of family responsibilities. It is not easy for all the patients to gulp the pills capsule daily. Some patients feel dependency. Some depend on random information from Google search. And many times, due to communication gaps between the patient and the doctor, patients fail to understand the essence of taking medicines regularly in the right dose, at the right time, and for the right period. In other words, we all call it medication adherence. As being a doctor, can you command the adherence? No. It's built via trust and compassion. Don't judge the patient. Try to understand him or her. A complicated treatment plan does not guarantee success, but a simpler plan is easy to stick to rather by the patient. Healthcare is not defined by discovery of new and rare medicines and drugs. It is also helping the patient to realistically observe the treatment plans, take the medicines, and recover smoothly. Please realize the fact that one of the most underrated medical skills is to make the healthcare and allied facilities available, accessible, followable, and sustainable for ordinary people, patients and laymen. With this note, I wrap up today's episode and hope it was really useful and informative to all the listeners. If you liked it, don't forget to hit the like button. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel. You can follow me on Insta, X and LinkedIn. They all are with the same name is Pharmacology Difficult. Stay happy, stay safe, stay enlightened. Till the next time, thank you. Take care. Bye bye.