[Patient compliance with inhaled medication approach in community pharmacy]

Non compliance with chronic administration of inhaled medication is a great pitfall. Pharmacists have an important task in optimizing patient compliance since they hold several advantages for that purpose: they possess an overview of the patient's medication, even prescription free medication such as cough medicines. Moreover, the pharmacist is capable of explaining the role of the medication in therapy and he enjoys the patient's confidence to do so. This article highlights some strategies to measure patient compliance and seeks to understand the underlying reasons for non-compliance. The appropriate pharmacist's action will depend on that reason.