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Picture the following scenario: Grandma is in the kitchen preparing her dinner. She starts working away near the kitchen sink, preparing her favorite recipe. Grandma missed her lunch hour dose of medications that included statins to reduce her cholesterol. As she starts to wash her vegetables, she hears the phone ring. She turns off the faucet, wipes her hands dry and as she scurries to pick up the phone. As she has exerted herself to prepare dinner, and then dashes to the phone, she suddenly feels weak and her muscle movement feels laboured. She misses a step and immediately [...]

There’s a growing threat amongst seniors wanting to live an independent lifestyle: and it’s commonly known as Parkinson’s Disease. One study1 indicates 930,000 Americans suffer this debilitating disease currently and that number will raise to an estimated 1.2 million by 2030.   What Is Parkinson’s Disease? According to the Mayo Clinic2, Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system (or neurodegenerative) disease that affects a body’s ability for movement. It leads to a loss of dopamine in the brain. Symptoms typically start gradually, or in stages (for example, a barely noticed hand tremor to something more severe) and will worsen [...]

We briefly spoke about Primary non-adherence (PNA) as a subcategory from our previous blog “4 types of medication non-adherence”. For this blog, we will explore the formal definition of PNA, what factors contribute to PNA, and what we can do to reduce the likelihood of PNA from occurring. What is Primary non-adherence? Primary non-adherence is defined as a failure to start treatment because the prescribed medication is not picked up or received. In contrast, Secondary non-adherence (SNA) is defined as a failure to take medication as prescribed, a failure to refill the prescription or to discontinues the treatment. [...]

In our last blog about “What is medication adherence? Why does it matter?” we took a closer look at medication adherence and how the community understands the term. In this blog we take it one step further as we explore medication non-adherence and find that it’s more than forgetting to take medication. Medication non-adherence is broken down into two categories: Primary (PNA) and Secondary non-adherence (SNA). Primary non-adherence occurs when a new medication is prescribed for a patient but the patient fails to obtain the medication (or its appropriate alternative) within an acceptable period of time after it [...]