Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) logoLink to British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)
. 1987 Oct 3;295(6602):814–818. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6602.814

Determinants of non-compliance with short term antibiotic regimens.

J Cockburn 1, R W Gibberd 1, A L Reid 1, R W Sanson-Fisher 1
PMCID: PMC1247861  PMID: 3119056

Abstract

The contribution of doctor, patient, and consultation interaction patterns to compliance with antibiotic treatment was examined in 233 adult patients seen in general practice. Twelve variables were shown to discriminate between compliers and non-compliers. Discriminating variables relating to patients included health state, employment state, knowledge of tablet, and perception of anxiety level, difficulty in complying, and their observed anger, distance, and assertiveness in the consultation. Discriminating variables relating to doctors included provision of advice on duration of treatment, complexity of dosage schedule, age of doctor, and number of years in practice. For the most part these results confirmed previous research. It is concluded that the doctor should consider both the dosage schedule and the patient's daily routine when prescribing antibiotic tablets. Advice on how to take the tablets should be given in specific rather than in general terms. The significant effect of the age of the doctor and the years spent in practice has not been found in previous work. This finding may reflect differences in behavior between younger doctors and their patients. This difference was not detected in the observation of consultation events.

Full text

PDF
815

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bartlett E. E., Grayson M., Barker R., Levine D. M., Golden A., Libber S. The effects of physician communications skills on patient satisfaction; recall, and adherence. J Chronic Dis. 1984;37(9-10):755–764. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(84)90044-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Becker M. H., Maiman L. A., Kirscht J. P., Haefner D. P., Drachman R. H. The Health Belief Model and prediction of dietary compliance: a field experiment. J Health Soc Behav. 1977 Dec;18(4):348–366. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brand F. N., Smith R. T., Brand P. A. Effect of economic barriers to medical care on patients' noncompliance. Public Health Rep. 1977 Jan-Feb;92(1):72–78. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Eraker S. A., Kirscht J. P., Becker M. H. Understanding and improving patient compliance. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Feb;100(2):258–268. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-100-2-258. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gillum R. F., Barsky A. J. Diagnosis and management of patient noncompliance. JAMA. 1974 Jun 17;228(12):1563–1567. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hulka B. S., Kupper L. L., Cassel J. C., Efird R. L. Medication use and misuse: physician-patient discrepancies. J Chronic Dis. 1975 Jan;28(1):7–21. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(75)90045-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Johnson D. A. Treatment of depression in general practice. Br Med J. 1973 Apr 7;2(5857):18–20. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5857.18. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Korsch B. M., Gozzi E. K., Francis V. Gaps in doctor-patient communication. 1. Doctor-patient interaction and patient satisfaction. Pediatrics. 1968 Nov;42(5):855–871. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lima J., Nazarian L., Charney E., Lahti C. Compliance with short-term antimicrobial therapy: some techniques that help. Pediatrics. 1976 Mar;57(3):383–386. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. O'Hanrahan M., O'Malley K. Compliance with drug treatment. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1981 Jul 25;283(6286):298–300. doi: 10.1136/bmj.283.6286.298. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Porter A. M. Drug defaulting in a general practice. Br Med J. 1969 Jan 25;1(5638):218–222. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5638.218. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sackett D. L., Haynes R. B., Gibson E. S., Taylor D. W., Roberts R. S., Johnson A. L. Patient compliance with antihypertensive regimens. Patient Couns Health Educ. 1978 1st Quart;1(1):18–21. doi: 10.1016/s0738-3991(78)80033-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Waters W. H., Gould N. V., Lunn J. E. Undispensed prescriptions in a mining general practice. Br Med J. 1976 May 1;1(6017):1062–1063. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6017.1062. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES