Practical Ways to Improve Patient Adherence

Daniel J. Lewis, M.D. is a dermatology chief resident physician in the cutaneous oncology track at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lewis earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, earned his M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed his internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts as well as multiple textbook chapters. He was named Post-Doctoral Trainee of the Year in 2022 by ADEN and winner of the 2022 ASDS Young Investigators Writing Competition. He will be the 2023-2024 Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Dan also works as a professional sports journalist and has written over 90 articles for Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation (www.DanielLewisSports.com). Dan is also Founder of Penn Fitness for Life, a community service organization based in Philadelphia that seeks to combat the growing obesity epidemic in the United States by empowering children to live healthy lives. Steven R. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Social Sciences & Health Policy and Director of the Center for Dermatology Research at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has authored over 1,200 peer-reviewed articles, and he has served as the principal investigator of industry, foundation, and federally funded studies. Dr. Feldman has been ranked by ExpertScape as one of the top-five worldwide experts in psoriasis, dermatology, and treatment adherence. He has served as a member of the medical board of the National Psoriasis Foundation, chaired that board’s subcommittee on education, and served as Director of the Foundation’s Chief Residents’ Meeting on psoriasis treatment. He has also chaired the American Academy of Dermatology’s Psoriasis Education Initiative Workgroup. He was the founder of www.DrScore.com and Chief Science Officer of Causa Research. He is Senior Advisor, Dermatology & Patient Adherence, for Sensal Health. He serves as the editor of or an editorial board member for multiple dermatology journals and is the author of Compartments: How the Brightest, Best Trained, and Most Caring People Can Make Judgments That Are Completely and Utterly Wrong. He is also the creator of www.PromisedLandMuseum.org, The Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Section 1: The Problem of Poor Patient Adherence
Chapter 2: How Poor is Patient Adherence? Chapter 3: Qualitative Measures of Adherence. Chapter 4: Clinical Studies on Adherence. Chapter 5: Why Is Adherence So Poor? It is Our Fault. Chapter 6: A Pyramid Model for Improving Adherence.
Section 2: Foundation – Trust and Accountability
Chapter 7: Establishing the Physician-Patient Relationship. Chapter 8: Setting the Right Office Visit Context. Chapter 9: Fostering Patient Accountability.
Section 3: Practicality – Simplicity and Education
Chapter 10: Involving Patients in the Choice of Treatment. Chapter 11: Reducing the Burden of Treatment. Chapter 12: Educating and Providing Instructions. Chapter 13: Helping Patients Remember.
Section 4: Psychology – Behavioral Techniques
Chapter 14: Anchoring. Chapter 15: Giving Salient Descriptions. Chapter 16: Emphasizing Losses Versus Gains. Chapter 17: Framing Risks of Side Effects. Chapter 18: Using Side Effects to Our Advantage .
Section 5: Special Considerations
Chapter 19: Patients with Psychiatric Conditions. Chapter 20: Pediatric Patients. Chapter 21: Suddenly Adherent Patients. Chapter 22: The Most Adherence-Resistant Patients
Section 6: Sample Cases
Chapter 23: Pediatric Atopic Dermatitis. Chapter 24: Skin Cap for Psoriasis. Chapter 25: Coral Reef Psoriasis. Chapter 26: Scalp Psoriasis.
Section 7: Final Thoughts
Chapter 27: Poor Adherence Is Not All Bad. Chapter 28: Conclusions.
References