About 75 percent of patients in the U.S. do not take their medication as directed. As part of its Script Your Future campaign, aimed at combating this problem, the National Consumers League will launch its fifth annual Medication Adherence Team Challenge on Jan. 19.
The challenge is a two-month intercollegiate competition in which student teams design solutions to raise awareness about medical adherence as a critical public health issue. As part of the initiative, the teams will implement outreach programs in their communities. The competition ends on March 18, at which time select schools and their teams will be recognized nationally for the initiatives they designed.
Last year's winners included the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore. Since the challenge began in 2011, more than 6,000 students have directly counseled more than 22,000 patients on medication adherence.