Study: Patient Adherence to Prescription Regimen Affected by Confusion

Patients may not be taking their prescriptions in an efficient manner because of confusing label instructions, which can result in lowered patient adherence to proper medication regimens, according to a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, 464 participants were asked to organize how they would take each of their seven medications in a 24-hour period. In total, the subjects had to place 21 fictional pills that could be consolidated into four dosing episodes a day — 8 a.m., 12 p.m., 6 p.m. and bedtime.

Results showed that even though patients could consolidate into those four time slots, many of them organized the pills into as many as 14 time slots, ranging from 5 a.m-11 p.m. Only 14.9 percent of participants actually organized the medications into four or fewer time slots. Low literacy was a predictor of greater dosing episodes per day.

Read the study about prescription regimens.

Read other coverage about patient adherence:

- Study: More Colonoscopy Screening Options Confuse Patients

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