The role of the allied health professional in improving patient adherence.

Patient nonadherence to a prescribed treatment has received recent recognition as a significant problem in medical care and rehabilitation. Increasingly, many allied health professionals are being asked to function in the role of patient counselor to help patients initiate and maintain medication regimens, and make health-related lifestyle changes. A review of the literature indicates five major factors that significantly affect patient adherence: (1) patient education, (2) patient-health care provider rapport, (3) patient assertiveness, (4) the degree to which treatment regimen fits the patient's lifestyle and (5) the use of specific behavior change strategy. The allied health professional can work with all of these factors to improve patient adherence.