ABSTRACT
This chapter examines immediate and proximate non-illness factors which influence the consumption of medicines by consumers. There is much emphasis on the provision of information to consumers/ patients as a means for influencing individual drug use conduct. In advanced technological societies, the issue of substitution of self-medication versus the supplemental use of non-prescribed substances seems, on the evidence, of little consequence. Strong evidence can be derived that safety can better be achieved via regulation than via information. Factor scores were computed for each doctor-patient pair to allow estimating correlation with weighted measures of patient compliance or conformance. A rational medicines policy is one which takes into account as much as a person can learn about the determinants of health behaviour, prescription practices and medicine use. One of the proposed strategies for improving compliance as well as consumer safety has been the use of a clinical pharmacist who counsels the patient on how, and often why, he should consume his medicine.
