Monitoring patients to improve physical health and treatment outcome

Patients with schizophrenia suffer a number of comorbidities and a range of potential side effects from their medication, which contribute to a negative impact on their quality of life, and are sometimes responsible for lack of compliance and relapse. Side effects, in particular, can be identified by physicians, but only if they examine their patients regularly. Many physicians would suggest that this is good clinical practice for treating patients with schizophrenia, whatever the intended medication. This continuous monitoring might include weight gain, cognitive effects, and blood tests. In fact, patients appreciate being carefully monitored and it contributes to a good patient/physician relationship. This interaction has benefits in terms of impact on compliance and better control of symptoms due to treatment adherence (to appropriate doses), because it enables action before the patient stops taking medication. Good clinical practice suggests that investment in patient monitoring is offset by improved clinical outcomes.