You know the drill, your doctor sends you home with a prescription for an antibiotic and after 4 days, you are finally feeling better – great it worked.
Many forget to take the remaining dosage, why bother it worked right? You might want to reconsider that thought and instead stick to the regimen your physician prescribed. According to a recent article in Dorland Health on Medication Adherence, this is becoming an epidemic that is spreading throughout American medicine and they’ve dubbed it “America’s other drug problem.”
Medication adherence or management plays a direct role in keeping people in the second half of life out of the hospital. According to a 2011 Centers for Disease & Control (CDC) Prevention study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, each year there are nearly 100,000 emergency room hospitalizations for adverse drug events in adults aged 65 years and older.
Lifesprk Life Care Manager, Mary Claire O’Brien, has seen first-hand how adhering or not adhering to medications can make a difference in the lives of her clients. In the most recent issue of Glow, Lifesprk’s quarterly newsletter, O’Brien shares a client story where adhering to medication almost cost her client her independence, and more importantly, her life.
Why does this matter? Because adhering to medications is one simple way of avoiding a trip back into the hospital and spending money on additional medications. If you need help managing medications for yourself or a loved one, call us, we can help get you on the right path and continuing to live life filled with purpose and passion.
What are some of your stories about medication adherence – have you seen how this could be a problem for yourself or loved ones? Share On! It just might help another reader.
