Programs to optimize adherence in glaucoma

Nanosponge-Mediated Drug Delivery Lowers Intraocular Pressure

“…10 To increase compliance in glaucoma patients, approaches like electronic dosing aids, motivational-and patientcentered communication strategies, and video documentation are being used, but so far the results have been mixed. 15,17,[19][20][21][22] A study examining patient compliance for 3 months after providing an electronic dosing aid showed 96% adherence within the first 10 days; this decreased slightly to 86% compliance for the remainder of the study. 19 In a similar study, Dreer et al 20 found that when using an electronic dosing aid 80% of patients took some amount of drops within 6 hours of their prescribed dosing time, but only 64% took the prescribed amount of drops within 3 hours of the prescribed dosing time.…”

“…13 Multiple strategies have been used to increase compliance in glaucoma patients; however, poor drug adherence remains a major barrier to treatment. 15,17,[19][20][21][22][23] To address this issue and improve clinical outcomes, delivery systems for glaucoma drugs are being developed that would ideally provide prolonged drug effects while decreasing systemic exposure, side effects, and patient discomfort (reviewed by Knight and Lawrence 24 ). A recent study by Chong et al 25 determined the willingness of patients to accept intraocular injections in lieu of current glaucoma therapies.…”

Drops, Drops, and More Drops

“…Reminders and recall systems can send messages or emails to cell phones, reminding patients to instill their drops or alerting them to upcoming office visits. (Kowing et al, 2010) While electronic monitoring is a more accurate way of recording whether an eye drop is dispensed at the appropriate time, it is unable to assess whether the drop was correctly instilled into the eye and was utilized. However, enhanced educational efforts can address this.…”

Patient Communication and the Glaucoma Surgeon

“…Bottle devices with dosing support (timers with audible and visual signals and dispensing aids) and electronic monitoring have been shown to promote adherence. 91 4. Ask open-ended questions, and remember the ask-tellask sequence: Always ask the patient open-ended questions like 'so, what do you know/think about this?…”