Adherence is defined as:‘The extent to which the patient’s
behaviour matches agreed recommendations from the
prescriber.’ It has been adopted by many as an alternative
to compliance, in an attempt to emphasise that the patient
is free to decide whether to adhere to the doctor’s
recommendations and that failure to do so should not be a
reason to blame the patient. Adherence develops the
definition of compliance by emphasising the need for
agreement.
We recognised that these three terms are now used
interchangeably and that this has generated some confusion.
After discussion within the Project team and with our Expert
Panel and Consultation Groups, we recommend ‘adherence’
as the term of choice to describe patients’ medicine taking
behaviour.
We recognise that adherence is not always a ‘good thing’ as
a prescription may be inappropriate or not reflect the
patients’ changing needs. We assume that adherence is
appropriate and beneficial if it follows a process that allows
patients to influence the decision making if they wish, and
an appropriate choice of medicine is made by the prescriber.