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Glaucoma medication non-compliance in Hebron, Palestine
Affiliations- St. John Eye Hospital, Jerusalem, Palestine
open access
Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to determine patient characteristics, estimate the extent of compliance of glaucoma patients with medication, the technique of drop instillation, and follow-up clinic visits.
Material and methods: We interviewed all glaucoma patients attending their regular follow-up visits, over three months, at St. John Eye Hospital, Hebron, Palestine. A questionnaire with 34 questions was used to fill patient responses. The questions dealt with patient characteristics: glaucoma treatments, and their awareness and attitudes towards different components of non-compliance with medical treatment. We also observed the patient’s practice of instilling placebo eye drops.
Results: We interviewed 44 patients: 33 females (75%) and 11 males (25%). Patients using more than one drop constituted 63% of patients. 82% of patients affirmed “Not missing doses last week”, and 52% stated that they “Never stopped taking drops in the past”, while only 36% of files showed drop compliance. 91% of patients claimed to make follow-up visits on time, while documented follow-up compliance was 64%.
Conclusion: This study revealed a poor agreement between subjective compliance and file records among Palestinian patients with glaucoma visiting our clinic. We need to educate our glaucoma patients about the disease and its complications, drop administration technique, compliance with drop administration, and clinic visits.
Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to determine patient characteristics, estimate the extent of compliance of glaucoma patients with medication, the technique of drop instillation, and follow-up clinic visits.
Material and methods: We interviewed all glaucoma patients attending their regular follow-up visits, over three months, at St. John Eye Hospital, Hebron, Palestine. A questionnaire with 34 questions was used to fill patient responses. The questions dealt with patient characteristics: glaucoma treatments, and their awareness and attitudes towards different components of non-compliance with medical treatment. We also observed the patient’s practice of instilling placebo eye drops.
Results: We interviewed 44 patients: 33 females (75%) and 11 males (25%). Patients using more than one drop constituted 63% of patients. 82% of patients affirmed “Not missing doses last week”, and 52% stated that they “Never stopped taking drops in the past”, while only 36% of files showed drop compliance. 91% of patients claimed to make follow-up visits on time, while documented follow-up compliance was 64%.
Conclusion: This study revealed a poor agreement between subjective compliance and file records among Palestinian patients with glaucoma visiting our clinic. We need to educate our glaucoma patients about the disease and its complications, drop administration technique, compliance with drop administration, and clinic visits.
Keywords
glaucoma; non-compliance; medication compliance; follow-up visit compliance; Hebron
About this articleTitle
Glaucoma medication non-compliance in Hebron, Palestine
Journal
Issue
Vol 6 (2021): Continuous Publishing
Article type
Original paper
Pages
10-16
Published online
2021-02-24
Page views
6077
Article views/downloads
530
DOI
Bibliographic record
Ophthalmol J 2021;6:10-16.
Keywords
glaucoma
non-compliance
medication compliance
follow-up visit compliance
Hebron
Authors
Riyad Banayot
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