Medication adherance

Question 1

Managing poor medication adherence

Answer 1

Which medications/treatments are impacted?
Identify barriers to adherence
i.e. timing at school, taste, side effects, forgetfulness, complex dosing, perceived non-benefit, forgetting

Strategies:

• Aiming to give adolescent ownership over issue
• Want to ensure good ongoing relationship with patient
• Change route of medication i.e. tablet vs liquid
• Changing timing of administration
• Changing to more tolerable agent
• Aids to help remember alarms, phone apps
• Simplify medication schedule
• Negotiate with adolescent to take some better than nothing
• Manage side effects
• PBS/subsidy to reduce cost
• Lease with pharmacist