So it's been one year
since becoming a Tandigm Scholar and last week I had to
present my research in front of a room full of doctors. Despite being
under the weather... I did it. Whew! I've never been a fan of public
speaking so this was looming over me for a while causing stress... I get
performance anxiety...
The topic I chose was on improving medical adherence in the elderly. Few facts in case you are interested...
25% to 50% of patients do no take their medications as recommended
Poor adherence leads to...
- Increased
morbidity and mortality
- Accounts
for approx. 125,000 deaths and 10% hospitalizations in US annually
- $100 billion annually spent on US health services due to poor adherence
Barriers include...
- Reviewing
full medication information is challenging and time consuming
- Accurate
knowledge of actual home medication is difficult to attain
- Complex
medication instructions
- Polypharmacy
- Duration of
medication (temporary vs permanent) and withdrawing the medication
- Adverse
effects
- Problems
with keeping medication lists up to date
- IT systems
and poor communication within healthcare systems
My project identifies
those patients who may benefit from having their medications delivered in a
pill pack form...
Then seeks whether
adherence is improved leading to positive clinical outcomes...
Having a project to do
in addition to the daily ins and outs of patient care adds a layer of purpose
and intellectual challenge... with the potential to improve healthcare on a
broader scope. For these reasons I was intrigued and couldn't say no when this
opportunity came up... I flushed out my thoughts last year in my blog...
So two more years to
go....
Click the following link for the full story:
