An attempt for complex assessment of the elderly patients' compliance

Compliance is taking the correct amount of the correct medicine at the correct time. Today, the problem of prescription medicine noncompliance is gaining considerably more attention within the pharmacy community as a part of the pharmaceutical care and by the other health professionals. Sometimes, compliance is defined "objectively" by how much medication a patient takes, such as taking a certain percentage of prescribed medication or taking a certain number of pills over a specific time period. Undoubtedly the care for the elderly patients and especially for the elderly patients that are bedridden can be an especially difficult challenge. The extent of non-compliance among them is estimated to be about 40% to 50%. The aim of this research is to assess the level of compliance and the factors, that influence this process among a group of elderly patients. We applied a complex methodology in order to avoid the mistakes that are connected with the use of a single method separately.