Unlike some conditions, heart failure must be managed by patients taking prescriptions for the rest of their lives. Individuals who do not take their heart medication as prescribed have increased risks of mortality and hospitalization and higher health care costs. Numerous interventions have been designed to increase patients’ adherence to medications; yet, no research has determined what intervention techniques are most effective. Now, a University of Missouri researcher found that interventions to encourage patients to take their medications as prescribed were most effective when focused on changing the behavior of patients rather than the behavior of health care providers.
“Previous research has shown that 50 percent of patients who take medications long term do not take them as prescribed,” said Todd Ruppar, assistant professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. “This study helps identify aspects of different interventions that contribute to better patient outcomes so that more effective interventions can be developed.”
Ruppar and his colleagues compared characteristics of 29 medication adherence interventions for individuals who were not taking their heart medication as prescribed. The researchers found that interventions directed at health care providers or education-based interventions that focused on teaching individuals about their medications were less effective than interventions that focused on changing the behavior of patients.
Reviewed 2015-04-03