Patient adherence in healthcare operations: a narrative review

Abstract

Patient nonadherence to healthcare providers’ recommendations is a major obstacle to desired health outcomes. It results in health deterioration and hospitalization, which might have been avoided with a high level of patient adherence. This paper reviews the literature addressing the issue of adherence in healthcare operations. A total of 73 published articles from operations research and management science journals are included in the review as a result of the systematic search that covered studies from inception until October 26, 2022. This paper is the first comprehensive review of adherence-related research in the operations research field. We summarize how adherence is measured, the research contexts, interactions between adherence and the healthcare system, and how adherence is modeled mathematically. Furthermore, we review adherence-related research at clinical, hospital, and healthcare system levels of planning and control, in addition to medical decision-making. We identify the opportunities in adherence research under the following themes: Supporting proactive management of adherence for healthcare providers, designing a healthcare system that enables adherence, developing personalized treatments, and addressing the global health issues of antimicrobial resistance and vaccine hesitancy.