Did I take my medicine?
Today? Every pharmacist knows that being prescribed the proper medication is only the first step of the therapeutic process. The prescription serves no good purpose unless it is filled, and the medication is taken as directed. Pharmacists are able to determine from refill records and patient interactions that their patients often don’t take their medicine as prescribed. This is now recognized as a significant health care problem. According to the American Pharmacists Association, “medication-related problems and medication mismanagement are a massive public health problem in the U.S. Experts estimate that 1.5 million preventable adverse events occur each year that result in $177 billion in injury and death.”
But how do you make sure patients take their medicine? One way of doing so is through medication therapy management (MTM). Providing MTM to patients has become a priority since the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Today’s pharmacy students are now trained to
provide this service, and it is being incorporated in health care settings. But, key to managing how patients take their medicine is tracking a prescription’s actual use and then collecting this data. Researcher Justin Gatwood, PhD, MPH, is conducting a study with the goal of finding ways to improve the adherence to the prescribed drug therapy for glaucoma. “Glaucoma treatment medication adherence is an understudied area,” he said. “Results from this study can have a tremendous impact on patient care.” If he is successful in finding ways to help these patients, it will reduce the intraocular pressure caused by glaucoma, and in turn delay the patient’s visual field loss, or the need for surgery. In conducting this research, Dr. Gatwood is using a combination of new technologies. A device developed by a technology company in Silicon Valley collects the data about where, how and when glaucoma patients use their medication. It also has the potential to remind patients to take their medicine if a dose is missed. Small and lightweight, the device fits neatly around a standard eye drop bottle that contains the glaucoma medication. It has a built-in sensor that detects and records when medication has been used. Without any activity from the patient, the data collected from the medication’s use are wirelessly transmitted in real
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