When it comes to their best recovery, patients need a complete understanding of their prescriptions and medications during hospitalization. It’s also important when preparing them for discharge so they adhere to treatment at home. It’s not uncommon for patients to misunderstand the dosing and timing of their medications.

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Seventy-five percent of Americans have trouble taking their medicine as directed. This lack of adherence is costing many people their good health and the healthcare system billions of dollars. Estimates are that approximately 125,000 deaths per year in the United States are due to medication non-adherence and that 33% to 69% of medication-related hospital admissions are due to poor adherence. The total cost estimates for medication non-adherence range from $100 billion to $300 billion every year, when both direct and indirect costs are included.”¹

There are a number of unique ways to help patients understand their prescriptions, and why they’re taking them. Including Pharmacists and Pharmacologists as part of a patient’s Care Team may increase a patient’s commitment to a medication regimen, since they can help with tailored guidance. That guidance can include focused pharmacy counseling or motivational interviewing. Additional methods to increase compliance include services like personalized pill boxes and custom medication cards or calendars². Enhanced follow-up using text and phone surveys may be effective as well.

Most importantly, using telemedicine is a great opportunity to check in with patients about their prescriptions during a regularly scheduled call. Since the pandemic, it’s fair to say that most patients are more likely to ask questions about their prescriptions, so take advantage of that and establish prescription reviews. Finally, while patients are still under hospital care, digital education content is another step to better understanding.

While digital learning is a familiar form of getting information, printed materials are expensive, and are often lost or forgotten at discharge. To help patients understand their prescriptions and their condition, HCI offers a large library of patient education. Relevant content, delivered through MediaCare as short videos, comes from your existing education library or our award-winning producers. You can assign educational content at Admittance and throughout the stay. When content is pushed to a patient’s TV or digital whiteboard, then caregivers can follow-up with questions and teach-back techniques. With that in mind, you can deliver comprehension surveys automatically to help measure how well a patient understands their prescription.

Prescription fulfillment

MediaCare offers patients the option for automated prescription fulfillment. That’s another step toward treatment compliance.

Medication search

HCI offers an option for patients to search for and learn about their medications through the Rx App. Running on the patient’s Interactive Whiteboard and in-room TV, they can:

• Read a full description of their medicines, including side effects and warnings
• View images and pictures of the medicines they’ve been prescribed
• Match their medications with the hospital database images as another step to avoid errors