Many Mental Health Consumers Need Education Concerning Their Medicines

Clinicians in our Shreveport, Louisiana outpatient mental health clinic are piloting a medication education program called "Your Medicine". The nurse and psychiatrist designing the program asked me to help edit the project, so I follow our pilot program with great interest. Medication noncompliance could be the most significant factor in relapses and hospitalizations among the chronically mentally ill.
Before beginning the education program, we give consumers a pre-test. Our social workers also lead a group discussion, asking group members to talk about problems they have had with medication compliance. Here are some interesting trends we see at the outset of treatment:

• Virtually all consumers either fail to recognize or minimize the effects of past medication noncompliance.
• Initially, few consumers can list or narrate the names of their medicines, dosing information, or what condition the medicine treats without significant errors or omissions.
• Even among consumers that take numerous medicines, many are not using pill planners or any other method to organize their medicines.
• Many consumers do not know how to recognize or interpret basic information from a prescription label, such as the number of refills remaining.
• Many consumers need a better understanding about how to have their prescriptions refilled or reissued before they run out.

After consumers complete "Your Medicine", we give a post test. This provides insight into how much help a particular consumer will need with his medicines after discharge. We communicate these needs to the consumer’s family or others providing support.
Education is probably not the silver bullet for combating medication noncompliance. Nevertheless, it is hard to envision widespread success if our consumers and their support systems lack insight into medications. Education is but one of many tools we use in medication management.