Resources for Improving
Adherence to Medications
Adherence to Medications
MEDICATION ADHERENCE OVERVIEW AND GUIDELINES
The guidelines provide resources for healthcare providers to identify patients at risk for nonadherence and interventions to improve adherence.
This report provides an exhaustive review of the published literature on the definitions, measurements, epidemiology, economics and interventions applied to nine chronic conditions and risk factors.
The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists empowers pharmacists to enhance quality of care for all older persons through the appropriate use of medication and the promotion of healthy aging.
PATIENT EDUCATION TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE).
The ACOVE program offers healthcare providers, consumers, and healthcare systems with up-to-date evidence-based educational tools and materials on a variety of conditions / healthcare processes important to the elderly population to improve their quality of healthcare.
American Heart Association. Compliance Action Program.
This site provides tools and resources for patients and healthcare providers for education and tools to improve adherence to medications.
California Healthcare Foundation. Helping patients manage their chronic conditions.
This report describes strategies to help healthcare providers work successfully with patients to improve adherence to chronic therapies using a collaborative approach. This report provides examples on how to assess Readiness to Change and incorporate Motivational Interviewing into encounters with patients.
Lifeclinic-Health Management Systems.
This site provides information about hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, nutrition, and fitness as well as a free online service for recording and tracking health information.
My Pill Box.
This site is designed to help persons properly take medications. Persons are able to create and name schedules, edit pill information, and view complete daily/weekly/monthly schedules on this site.
National Advisory Council on Aging [Canada].
This site provides education and resources on a number of issues affecting older adults.
National Council on Patient Information and Education. Educate before you medicate.
This site provides education resources to help persons safely take medications.
National Institute on Aging.
This site provides a number of educational pieces on health conditions affecting older adults.
NIH Senior Health.
National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine. This site provides easy to understand online health information for older adults and caregivers.
NuELifePro.
Tools, resources, and education to help you with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases in older people as well as information specific to changes that occur in the aging process.
US Food and Drug Administration. Consumer Education: Ensuring Safe Use of Medicine.
This site provides patient information on the safe use of medications. Materials include pamphlets and brochures on the safe use of medications.
US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Medline Plus.
This site provides interactive health education resources for patients. Each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language.
Health Literacy Resources
Altoona Family Physicians. The Altoona List of Medical Analogies. Use medical analogies.
This site provides medical analogies to help healthcare providers communicate complex medical concepts to patients.
Clear Health Communication Initiative.
This site addresses the scope and impact of health literacy issues.
Partnership for Clear Healthcare Communication. Ask Me 3.
This site provides tools and resources to help improve communication between healthcare providers and patients.
US Pharmacopeia. USP Pictograms.
The United States Pharmacopeia offers a free library of 81 pictograms, standardized graphic images that help to convey medication instructions, precautions, and warnings. Pictograms are particularly useful for providing information to patients with a lower level of reading ability and patients for whom English is a second language.
Resources to Help Persons Pay for Medications
Benefits Check Up.
A service of the National Council on Aging that identifies source of extra financial help for person with limited income and resources.
Partnership for Prescription Assistance.
This site provides access to a number of programs offered by the pharmaceutical companies as well as public and private programs for persons with limited financial resources.
Resources for Persons with Special Needs
National Eye Institute.
This site provides information on eye diseases and disorders and their treatment.
ADCO Hearing Products, Inc.
The company offers a wide range of products for persons with hearing loss including TTY (TeleTYpewriter) phones, closed caption decoders, books, videos and sign language gifts.
A basic dictionary of American Sign Language Terms.
This site provides a number of American Sign Language terms for those who are trying to communicate with a person who signs, but does not hear.
American Foundation for the Blind.
This site provides education and resource for persons with vision loss.
Hearing Loss Association of America.
This site provides education and resources for healthcare professionals, caregivers, and persons with hearing loss.
Resources for Ethnic Diversity
Cultural Competency: Providing Quality Care to Diverse Populations
Clinical Review that defines cultural competence and presents a practical framework to address cross-cultural challenges that emerge in the clinical encounter, with a particular focus on the issue of nonadherence.
The Office of Minority Health.
This site provides information and education on cultural competency and health topics for minority populations.
Curriculum in Ethnogeriatrics.
This site provides materials for educating and training healthcare professionals on issues related to disease and health in older ethnic persons.
Resources Dealing with Psychological Issues or Substance Abuse
American Psychological Society: Aging issues.
This site provides a variety of on-line resources for psychologists, health professionals, students, older adults and their families, and policymakers on psychological related issues.
Substance Abuse Among Older Adults: Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 26.
This site is aimed at healthcare providers and provides information on the recognition and treatment of substance abuse in older adults.
Commercial Sites with Adherence Improvement Aids and Devices
These sites offer a wide range of a wide range of medication adherence aids including pill organizers, pill dispensers, electronic reminders, and alarms:
E-pill Medication Reminders.
Forgetting the Pill.com. Personal reminder products.
Portal - iHealth: patient compliance, self-care, eldercare.
Cadex Medication Reminder Wrist Watch.
Dynamic living.com
Last accessed 10/6/2006
Copyright © 2012 American Society on Aging and American Society of Consultant Pharmacists Foundation; all rights reserved.