Patience with Patients: A Medical Student's Perspective on Helping Patients Be Adherent

摘要

Not following the course of prescribed medicine (medication nonadherence) is a well-known and costly problem in the United States and worldwide. Retrospective studies have found that in many sub-populations, more than 50% of patients may be nonadherent; this is estimated to cost between $100 billion and $300 billion annually in the United States alone.1'3 In our clinic, many third-year medical students come for their clinical clerkship; the following is one of the student's perspective and observations on medication nonadherence.