Adherence support strategies: inter-professional collaboration and role of community pharmacists in improving patients' adherence to medications

Abstract

Background Adherence to therapy is a growing concern for all healthcare professionals. Improving adherence requires a range of strategies that primarily focus on fostering behavioural change. Community pharmacists are well placed to deliver a range of strategies to support patients` adherence. Aims to investigate the extent to which Australian community pharmacists are providing adherence support strategies to patients and to explore the attitudes and opinions of pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs) on the provision of multiprofessional and collaborative adherence support interventions. Methods The research project consisted of two phases: Phase 1 (Quantitative study), encompassed the development and implementation of a mail survey instrument where a sample of 2020 pharmacies was randomly selected from the lists of Australian community pharmacies, and mailed a survey and Phase 2 (Qualitative study), consisted of qualitative focus group discussions with separate groups of pharmacists (N=23) and GPs (N=22), who were recruited from different geographic areas of Sydney. Results Both studies showed that reviewing dispensing and medical records of patients was found to be the most common method of identifying non-adherent patients. While simplifying medication regimen and providing dose administration aids were commonly used as strategies to support adherence. Factors found to potentially influence the provision of strategies to support adherence included “stakeholders/skills” and the number of equivalent staff. Conclusion Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this research identified the perceived reasons for non-adherence, strategies used by GPs and pharmacists to address and monitor adherence, and facilitators and barriers to the provision of adherence support services in community.