March 12, 2008 BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— As the proportion of older
adults rises in the United States, a growing number of patients
must learn to juggle multiple medications with potentially
complex dosage schedules, while also facing age-related changes
that may hamper their ability to manage medication. Millions of
people in the United States gamble with their health each day by
not taking prescribed medications correctly. The World Health
Organization predicts only 50 percent of patients typically take
medicine as prescribed. A study by Illinois Wesleyan University
nursing faculty suggests health care professionals can look at
an older patient’s lifestyle to understand whether they may be
successful in managing their prescriptions and needed
medications. The IWU study results, which will be published in
July in Nursing Science Quarterly, present characteristics of
patients who successfully manage their medicine. “There are
certain features that seem to influence whether or not someone
will manage their medicine w