The effect of counselling on compliance-failure in patient drug therapy

This paper reports the results of a study to determine the effects of counselling on patient compliance-failure in expected drug therapy. In patients discharged from acute general medical wards, counselling reduced compliance-failure for both patient non-compliance and error by approximately 40%. It was especially effective in reducing compliance-failure due to non-compliance where reasons were either the occurrence of adverse drug effects or patient belief that therapy was ineffective, and patient-error where this resulted from misinterpretation. The use of drug calendar cards did not minimise the incidence of non-compliance but was effective at reducing error, especially with Polynesian patients. It is concluded that prescribing clinicians can reduce compliance-failure by active drug-counselling.