Remembering to take your medication everyday should seem like a relatively simple task, yet everyday millions of people are guilty of forgetting to do so. It is not just a problem for the person with high blood pressure or the person who takes seven medications a day. It is a problem for everyone. Some simply forget, others confuse thinking about taking their medication with actually doing so, and some are consumed by the chaos and stresses of life. While missing a dose or two has no immediate consequence for many of us, there are individuals that can experience drastic changes in their health with one missed dose, such as HIV patients. For HIV patients, who require strict adherence to numerous prescriptions, missing a dose raises concerns as it increases the risk of developing drug resistance, progressing to AIDS, and subsequent morbidity or mortality. In a clinical setting, nurses administer medications as prescribed relieving the patient of the hassle of remembering to do so. However, once these patients leave the care of the nurse and healthcare team it is up to the patient to follow their medication regimen, which can prove to be a difficult, and unsuccessful, task.
