Patient Adherence and Compliance
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor
Date
Alma’s case presents failure to keep an appointment keeping or non-adherence with other aspects of treatment. Alama’s behavior may result from fear of pain or side effects from the procedure, worry, lack of understanding of the purpose of treatment, lack of knowledge on treatment effects, depression, and mistrust (Hugtenburg, 2013). However, the healthcare professional must identify ways to help Alma comply with the procedure and post-treatment medication. One way to be applied includes using behavioral techniques such as differential reinforcement, shaping, extinction, desensitization, and modeling. However, for behavioral approaches to be effective, frequent interaction between the patient and the healthcare professional must occur. The healthcare professional should also ensure that Alma is motivated enough to accept to carry out the procedure and must clearly understand what the procedure involves.
Patient teaching is also an intervention to increase adherence. For patients to adhere to a treatment procedure, they must clearly understand it, and patients who are better informed about the treatment are likely to be more adherent compared to patients that are not well informed. However, presenting the patient with information may not necessarily lead to them acting appropriately (Falvo, 2010). Giving Alma information about her condition, treatment procedures, and post-treatment medication can help her realize that learning alone cannot lead to the desired outcomes and the health professional should carry out an invasive pelvic procedure.
The healthcare professional should also try another communication style to get Alma to listen to him. To create a cooperative environment, he should show concern, empathy, and warmth for Alma. Also, Alma will get to trust the healthcare professional more, and she may find the freedom of choice and be free to discuss her concerns and difficulties regarding her treatment. Listening and understanding Alma’s feelings without judgment will help the healthcare professional identify the problem and find ways to deal with it.
References
Falvo, D. (2010). Effective patient education: A guide to increased adherence. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Hugtenburg, J. G., Timmers, L., Elders, P. J., Vervloet, M., & van Dijk, L. (2013). Definitions, variants, and causes of nonadherence with medication: a challenge for tailored interventions. Patient preference and adherence, 7, 675–682. https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S29549
