SEPTEMBER, Edition #34 , 2001

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Compliance is the biggest "bugbear" in the life of a clinician (doctor, health worker, and nurse) in remote practice when it comes to pharmacy matters.
Patient compliance to prescribed medication instructions.
So what's new?
Isn't that the same for any community?
It does not have to be a remote one.
The difference between a remote community and an urban one is the support structures that exist to aid in the patient education process.
Patients need to understand why they have to take a medicine in order to comply. If they do not, no matter where they live, they will not comply.
In remote areas the doctor, nurse or Aboriginal Health Worker have to rely on written messages, verbal advice to the patient, and the occasional visit by a health promotions officer.
In the suburbs patients can be supported by self-help organisations such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, kidney disease and so on.
So what will take the place of these in remote places.
There needs to be Patient education.

§ The lifestyle
§ The disease
§ The treatment
§ The recovery
§ The good life.

The importance of this cannot be overstated.
If we (primary health care professionals) are to succeed in encouraging patients to comply, it is all parts of the patient education function that are needed to work.
The role of the pharmacist in remote health practice is clear.
It is aiding in patient education.
It does NOT mean filling a dosette box or blister pack with tablets.
They will NEVER be taken if the patient does NOT UNDERSTAND the disease.
It is not enough to treat the symptoms with medication.
That will be easy when the patient understands why they have the disease, and WANTS to avoid getting the symptoms.
For far too long pharmacists involved in remote health have seen their role as finishing when the drug is dispensed to the clinic.
This is NO indication that the patient ever took the drug.
Get with it and do something that counts.
Become involved in patient education.

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