Running head: Get A Healthy St

            Running head: Get A Healthy Start with Medication ComplianceThe .
             Purpose of this paper is to increase patient compliance with medications. When a doctor prescribes medication there is every expectation that it will be taken correctly. On time, in the right dose and observing any necessary precautions, ( such as taking some medicines with food, and others on an empty stomach.). Yet we know many patients do not cooperate with this pattern. They forget some of the doses, take less than the prescribed, take the medication at incorrect times and may discontinue taking it when they feel better, even though the course of medication is not complete. When patients do this, when they depart from the prescribed regimen their behavior is said to be non compliant. Research shows that as many as 90% of patients may be non compliant with taking medications.
             Approximately 1/3 of patients can be expected to be noncompliant. According to Keeley & Playle (1998), non- compliance is the extent to which the patients behavior coincide with the health care providers medical or health advice. Many factors interfere with compliance such as forgetfulness, other priorities, fear, financial considerations, a change in schedule, confusion about the medication regimen. Improper use of prescription drugs or noncompliance with medications can lead to complications and even hospitalization. The estimated cost of noncompliance range from $50 billion to $100 billion a year (Cameron, 1996). Cameron (1996), states medical complications that result from medication noncompliance are responsible for the following: 10% of all hospital admissions; 25% of all hospital admissions among the elderly; 23% of all nursing home admissions, and 20 million work days loss annually.
             Get A Healthy Start 3.
             The target population that will be addressed are medically underserved and low income patients ages 20-65. The median school years completed for these persons is 9th grade, with a drop out rate of 11.