Medication Encouragement?

So while looking over the articles on the home page at work before I clicked off to look at something else, I caught a byline that said some program was essential to encourage patients to take their prescribed medications. It also had the title of "Putting the E in Adherence," but I just figured the editor was high when he allowed that to pass. I had to go ahead and click on it since I figured the main reason people would take their medicine was to get better. Why else would they have gone to the doctor to begin with? A friendly chat?

Apparently, somewhere along the line, someone decided that the pharmacist is accountable for what the medication is supposed to accomplish, so the electronic health records are supposed to do something to help pharmacists and doctors make sure people take their medicine. This electronic reporting is nothing new or mysterious, but it remains a fact that you can't force someone to do anything they don't want to do. If the person wants to take their medicine, they will. If they want to give the doctor the finger and move along, they also will.

The whole thing reminds me the seat belt law. We feel the need to legislate everything, including safety. People get hurt in car accidents because they don't wear their seat belts, so the government passes a law to require seat belt usage. People get killed by maniacs with guns, so townships pass law to prevent people from carrying...wait, the towns that got shot up already had anti-carry laws. Well, I'm sure they passed another law just for good measure. That'll show 'em.

So someone somewhere figured out that people were failing to take their medicine for economic, therapeutic, disease, or social related reason, and so they made something up for medical type people to track this and make sure people did it. Wonder how that's gonna work out for them. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I don't see it going the way they want. And if you consider the reasoning they "uncovered," let's just examine those reasons.

Economic: So you're telling us that they don't take their medicine, not because they don't want to, but because they can't afford to buy it. I guess your tracking will reveal that single mom of three with the two jobs just doesn't want to buy the $500 medicine then? Good luck encouraging her.

Therapeutic: I decided to look up this definition to make sure that I hadn't mis-remembered what it means, but no, it means health or healing. I'm trying to comprehend this as a reason not to take something. Maybe they won't take it because they feel like they are healthier without it? I had a medicine like that once. When I was taking it regularly, I felt loopy, had super lucid dreams, and couldn't stay awake. Seriously slept for 2 days on it. I stopped and felt 100% better. Seems like a solid reason to not take it.

Disease: If someone has a disease that is actively preventing them from taking a medication, you really should have prescribed something better catered to their situation. Who compiled this list?

Social: Well, if you're dealing with a social reason to not take a medicine, no amount of "encouragement" is going to fix that. That is a person who feels some kind of shame for what's going on, and you really should have taken that into account when you made the prescription. Maybe a little follow up will help that one.

In the end, you can't make someone do something they don't want to do. That's the bottom line. Perhaps following-up will give insight to their reasoning, and maybe you can assuage some of their fears or concerns, but to think this record thing will completely solve all of the problems with someone refusing to take their medicine is misguided at best.