Evaluation of prescribed medication pattern and adherence to treatment plans among breast cancer patients at KHCC

Abstract

Adherence to treatment plans as per the prescribed medication pattern is essential to ensure better treatment outcomes. However, unfortunately, a large sum of patients often disregards this area and tend to show non-compliance to this behavior, leading towards worst treatment scenarios. The current work is dedicated to the evaluation of prescribed medication patterns and adherence to treatment plans among breast cancer patients. The study is designed on a survey approach. The study sample involved 80 participants (55 breast cancer patients and 25 breast surgeons) enrolled at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) in Amman, Jordan. In order to accumulate the required data, a questionnaire was designed and sent to the respondents in KHCC. The respondents were asked to reflect on their experience and identify the primary aspects leading to non-adherence to treatment plans among patients. After separately analyzing the questionnaires’ responses submitted by the patients and surgeons, it was noted that patients consider psychological and social factors to be the primary cause of non-adherence behavior, whereas the surgeons attributed this behavior as a result of medication side effects and the complexity of treatments. Hence, it has been concluded that consideration must be paid to alleviating the aspects leading towards these causes so as to ensure patients’ maximum participation in their medication plans and augment the efficacy of therapies.