Non-Compliance with Medical Regimen, A Case Study at Agogo Presbyterian Hospital, Ghana

When patients do adhere to medical regimen, it reduces the likelihood of them being readmitted within the shortest period of time. However, not all patients adhere to medical regimen and this result from plethora of factors. This study assessed the factors that influenced non-compliance with medical regimens among patients at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital, Ghana. A purposive sampling was used to select 500 patients from 1730 that had failed to come for medical review but revisited the hospital after their conditions worsened during May, 2015. A structured questionnaire was administered to respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17.0 was used to analyze the data. The result showed that the younger respondents adhered to medication instructions better than the older respondent (p=0.000). Furthermore, most of the unemployed (16.4 %) respondents discontinued their medications when they had adverse reactions compared to 5.9 % of the employed respondents (p=0.000). More literates (18.6 %) than illiterates (3.7 %) discontinued their medications when they experienced adverse effects of the drugs (p=0.008). Also, 34.0 % of the respondents did not go back for medical review as scheduled due to mainly the long waiting time at the Out Patient Department and 22.0 % failed to go back because they felt better. In addition, 12.0 % did not comply because they forgot of the review date. Finally, the result indicates that respondents educational background [r (500) = -.154 at Pless than0.05] significantly correlates negatively with factors that influence noncompliance with medical regimen. There is therefore the need for older and educated patients to be sensitized to be more involved in fixing their appointments in order to increase compliance with medical regimen.