title: How do terminally ill patients at home take their medication?
abstract: Compliance with prescribed medication was assessed in 111 terminally ill patients referred to a community palliative care team using semistructured interviews and pill counting. One-hundred-and-six patients were prescribed a total of 597 drugs; of these patients, 64 (60%) were noncompliant. Thirty-five patients (33%) took less medication than prescribed, usually due to experiencing, or anxieties about, adverse events; the commonest drugs involved were analgesics. Seventeen patients (16%) took additional medication, usually purchased over the counter in response to inadequate symptom control or to adverse events from other drugs; the most common preparations were vitamins and analgesics. Twelve patients (11%) both took less medication than prescribed and also purchased medication over the counter. Most patients (90%) had two or more prescribers; patients who saw their general practitioners as their main prescriber were more likely to adhere to their prescribed medication. Patients who omitted and/or reduced their medication were more likely to see the hospital as their main prescriber. Drugs prescribed four times daily were most likely to be omitted and/or reduced.
authors.affiliation: St Joseph's Hospice, Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK. jzeppetella@stjosephshospice.org.uk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeppetella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000451:nursing; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D010166:Palliative Care; D010349:Patient Compliance; D019452:Terminally Ill
chemical_list: D004366:Nonprescription Drugs