Gerard Lee See, Florencio Arce, Jr, Yolanda Deliman
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to identify the practices of the health care providers (HCPs) and patient factors influencing adherence on antitubercular medications. This study provides a preliminary data on the actual practice of health care providers and observed as how it was translated into practice by the patients on antitubercular medications.
Methodology:
This was an exploratory, descriptive study. Structured written interview questionnaire was used as instrument. Two separate questionnaires were used, one for the HCPs and the other for the patients. Twenty TB patients and seven HCPs from the government-run health center in Talamban were randomly selected.
Results and Conclusion:
Fifty seven percent of HCPs conducted patient education in terms of dose, frequency of administration, period of administration and adverse effects of TB medicines. Patient education was limited to specific positions among HCPs. One significant practice initiated by HCPs was the home – provision of antitubercular medications. For medication factors, patients disliked the taste, size and number of medicines. Seventy five percent ignored or endured adverse effects and continued taking medicines. Health care practices included patient education (70%) (emphasized instructions, encouragement, constant reminding and fostered care) and provision of free medicines (30%). For patient practices, 70% were motivated to be cured thus took the prescribed medicines, 55% remembered taking their medication by incorporating it to specific daily routines, 40% were reminded by family members and 35% used cellular phones and sticker reminders. TB patients in Talamban were adherent to their medications.
