Online Prescriptions for Chronic Illnesses

March 21, 2023by Phenix Health

Chronic Illnesses: Chronic diseases are a major source of illness and death worldwide. These conditions significantly impact a patient’s health, social status and quality of life.

They require frequent medical visits, medication and a change in lifestyle. Many patients struggle to find a balance between these aspects and their quality of life.

Medication Management

Medication management is a process of organizing and managing your medications so that you can take them safely and effectively. It involves keeping a list of all of your prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, and any vitamins or supplements that you take.

It can also help you remember when to take your meds at the right time and in the proper dosage. This can save you from dangerous side effects and negative drug interactions, which can cause a variety of issues for your health.

chronic illnesses

One of the most common problems that can arise is polypharmacy, which occurs when patients are given different medications at the same time and may interact negatively with each other. This is a very serious problem that can cause severe symptoms and even death.

This can happen for many reasons, including when doctors prescribe different medications to the same patient without knowing about each other’s previous prescriptions. It’s important for patients and caregivers to keep a list of all of their medications on hand, especially when they go to multiple specialists who each prescribe different medications for them.

Accessibility

The quality of life for patients who have chronic illnesses is directly influenced by their ability to manage their illness and adhere to prescribed medications. Adherence is associated with better clinical outcomes for chronic disease management, reduced morbidity and mortality, and lower health care costs.

To achieve adherence, patients must be able to access their medication in a timely and convenient manner. Prolonged wait times have been linked to higher rates of nonadherence, reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and increased costs of healthcare.

Assistive technologies such as screen readers can help patients with impaired vision, hearing, or movement to access information. In addition, accessible websites allow people to use keyboards to access content.

Accessibility is an important consideration for the design and development of digital products, environments, and services. It improves user experience, satisfaction, and innovation in a variety of situations, across different devices and for older users. It also reduces institutional risk and saves time and money in the long run.

Patient Education for Chronic Illnesses

Patient education is essential to helping patients understand their medical conditions, treatments and options for care. It can significantly improve their quality of life.

Educating patients can also prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions and cost overruns on healthcare services. In fact, a recent study found that hospitalized patients who received instructions from a nurse were 30% less likely to return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge.

When educating patients about their treatment plans, consider their current level of knowledge and their readiness to learn new information. This will help you tailor your instruction to their needs.

A strong patient education program can help patients manage their chronic health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and asthma. It can also boost adherence to preventive care, like screenings and vaccinations.

Patient Adherence

Patient adherence to medications is an essential part of chronic disease management and is associated with improved clinical outcomes, reduced hospital admissions, and decreased health care costs. Adherence is a complex but changeable behavior that can be enhanced with patient education, ongoing communication, and medication persistence strategies.

As a result, it is crucial to develop an effective approach that combines patient-centricity, individual adherence goals, and use of technology capabilities for analysing data. These tools will help clinicians better understand the unique needs of each patient, which can be used to create a customised adherence program for each patient.

Medication adherence can be affected by a range of factors, including socioeconomic and healthcare team-related influences. Some of these factors have been found to negatively influence adherence, while others have been linked with positive effects.

For example, higher income and employment status were associated with improved adherence in some studies. Similarly, social and family-related factors such as involvement in community causes and having large families were found to be significant determinants of adherence.