Definition

Compliance to your medicines is defined as following the instructions and advice on medicines made by your team of health care professionals.
The Importance includes:

• To get well and stay well.
• To take control of your own health & well being.
• To reduce the incidence of complications due to incorrect way of taking medicines.
• To prevent increase cost in due to additional Doctors/ Pharmacist consultation or hospital stay.

Reasons for not complying with your medicines

• Forgetting to take the medicines..
• Not understanding and or misinterpreting the instructions.
• Prescription not collected or not dispensed.
• Purpose of treatment is not clear.
• Complicated regimen.
• Instructions for administration not clear..
• Experiencing side effects.
• Not believing that the medicines can help.
• Mistakenly believing that the disorder has been sufficiently treated. (eg : thinking an infection is over just because the fever disappears)
• Fearing adverse consequences from or dependence on the medicines.
• Cost of medicines
• Not caring about getting better.
• Encountering obstacles. (eg : having difficulty swallowing tablets or capsules, having problems opening bottles, considering treatment inconvenient, and being unable to obtain the medicines)

Tips to Increase Compliance

• Take medicines at the same time everyday.
• Take medicines in conjunction with meal or other daily events, eg; brushing your teeth.
• Use special medicines taking aids to help you keep track of the schedule to take the medicines, eg; pill boxes, medicines taking chart is schedule to mark when you have taken the medications.

Talk to your pharmacist to help you to prepare your medicines taking; (see Illustration 1: For example of schedule medicines taking schedule table).

Illustration 1: Schedule Table

• Use special medicines devices. eg; pill cutter or pill crusher to help you to cut or crush required medicines if necessary.
• Use stickers/reminders on medicines cabinet/box/container or on refrigerator as reminder to take the medicines.

• Ask people close to you to help remind you to take the medicines.
• Learn about your medicines; why it is given to you, how it works, etc, from your pharmacist.
• Do not change the way you take the medicines without informing your Doctor/Pharmacist.