Patient compliance in general practice. Factors contributing to poor compliance and suggestions for improvement

Patients from a solo general practice were followed up to determine what factors were common to those who were poor compliers. A multiple treatment programme where oral antibiotics were a part of the programme was the most frequent feature of poorly complying patients, especially amongst 0-9 and 30-39-year-olds, and ENT patients of any age. Improvement may be gained by establishing good rapport with patients, ordering a simple treatment programme and avoiding overprescribing for all patients, but especially for those groups of patients who are particularly poor compliers.