How to maintain therapeutic adherence using patient-reported data
by Ana Díaz-Roncero, October 27, 2021
It is a fact that therapeutic adherence plays a major role in the health and well-being of a patient with a chronic condition. Given the prevalence of chronic diseases in the developed world, for example diabetes or hypertension, therapeutic compliance is key to ensuring the efficacy of treatment, patient care and improvement.
When a patient adheres to a treatment, diet, or exercise that is recommended by the physician, it is reflected in the patient’s health and quality of life. Because of that, it is increasingly important to learn and collect this type of information from the patients themselves, enabling the healthcare professional to carry out remote monitoring of the disease and treatment, making decisions appropriate to each patient’s situation.
In the article “Collection of patient data in the outpatient setting: What does it involve and what can it contribute?”, we previously wrote about what kind of patient data there are in the outpatient environment, and how the collection of those data provides significant value to physicians and patients in the management of diseases. In this context, the involvement of the patient in the management of his or her disease and therapy, and the collection of data on a daily basis, can be extremely useful in assuring the maintenance of the patient’s adherence to therapy.
But … why?
On one hand, it’s useful because the collection of information from the patient himself or herself during the course of the treatment can help the healthcare professional to understand the patient’s status: symptoms, events, quality of life and so on, enabling the physician to redirect the therapy in case some complication is identified, or to provide new advice. It’s also useful because, through the transmission of tasks, notifications, and educational material to the patient that facilitate the completion of the therapy in question it makes the patient a participant in the management of the disease. In this respect, we already have evidence that shows that involving the patient encourages adherence to therapy, as can be seen in the article “Evidence available on strategies that favor and improve therapeutic adherence.”
All of this is possible today through the use of Digital Health and mHealth, which enable the collection and transmission of information between the patient and the physician. In the publication, “Impact of mHealth Chronic Disease Management on Treatment Adherence and Patient Outcomes” it was concluded that mobile health tools have the potential to facilitate adherence. In the article, “mHealth Interventions to Promote Anti-Retroviral Adherence in HIV: Narrative Review”, they went one step farther, noting two primary strategies that are used by applications for therapeutic adherence: reminder interventions (push strategy) and education interventions (pull strategy).
For all these reasons, at Persei vivarium we rely on Caaring®, our remote monitoring platform that enables the collection of data from the patient himself or herself during the course of the disease and/or treatment: symptoms, events, quality of life, etc. These are data that are related to the patient’s therapeutic adherence. In addition, the platform facilitates educational content that is useful to the patient, increasing the patient’s involvement.
Ultimately, the collection of data from the patients helps to maintain their therapeutic adherence, enabling their involvement in the management of their own disease as well as carrying out remote monitoring, complementing the physician’s information and facilitating decision-making. And all this is done in the simplest way, thanks to technology.
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Ana Díaz-Roncero
Business Development
Persei vivarium