Developing a patient self-medication program for the rehabilitation setting.

Abstract

Self-medication, the ability of the patient to administer his or her own medication, can be useful in the rehabilitation setting in reducing the incidence of polypharmacy, medication abuse, and inappropriate medication usage. However, a patient self-medication program also introduces a variety of issues, such as defining each team member's responsibilities and outlining the steps of the program. These issues may impede the development and implementation of the program. A review of the rehabilitation literature yields little information about program development in the rehabilitation setting or about dealing with such issues. The purpose of this article is to describe the need for a self-medication program in the rehabilitation setting, the development of one such program, and ways to overcome some of the problems that cause such programs to falter.