Medication Education: Increasing Patient Compliance

The medication education program described is based on group discussion and individual counseling in a partial hospital setting. It is one model for promoting medication compliance. The important issues are those presented by the patients themselves. Nurses can and must help patients understand the influences on patient decision-making processes and encourage them to make sense of the wealth of information regarding health care and medications now available to them as consumers. Nurses should also introduce patients to the successful methods invented and refined by others to manage medication difficulties. We can also support the patient in the lifelong processes of developing a clearer understanding of their relationships with health-care providers and of promoting sound health practices.