Treatment adherence is paramount for glaucoma patients who need to keep their IOP in check. However, many struggle to stick with the prescribed regimen, even those admitted as an inpatient. A 2019 study found a 36.2% rate of eye drop abstinence during a hospital stay, and only 42.5% even had their glaucoma drop regimen noted in their intake history and physical.¹

To prevent this oversight, researchers recently found a simple educational program can help inpatient caregivers remember to administer patients’ glaucoma drops.²

The study examined the drug administration record of 184 patients (n=142, pre-intervention; n=42, post-intervention) during admission to determine if their topical glaucoma medications were correctly reconciled and administered before and after an educational intervention to inpatient care providers. The intervention included an educational e-mail, weekly newsletter announcements and presentations during the morning report.

The researchers defined adherence as administration of greater than 75% of recommended doses during the inpatient stay.

The pre-intervention group had a total of 275 topical glaucoma medications, 75.3% of which were administered and demonstrated adherence. After the intervention phase, 87.5% of 56 topical glaucoma medications were administered with appropriate adherence.

The researchers also found significant associations between adherence and known outpatient medication regimen and correct admission reconciliation. “While in the care of health care providers, inpatients should at least be afforded the opportunity to maintain adequate adherence just as is done for other medications related to other chronic medical conditions,” the researchers concluded in their paper.