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"Safe and Effective Use of Medicines"
A Quick Screen Instrument for Non-adherence
Rossing C1, Fonnesbæk L1, Frøkjær B1, Herborg H1, Sørensen
L1, Tomsen D1
1Pharmakon, Danish College of Pharmacy Practice, Milnersvej 42, DK-3400
Hillerød, www.pharmakon.dk
Introduction
"Safe and Effective Use of medicines" is a pharmacy-based
project with a systematic approach to the problem of non-adherence and
lack of concordance among users of antihypertensive medicines. This multi-disciplinary
program distinguishes between intentional and unintentional non-adherence,
and the solutions found are based on a close partnership with the patient,
built through story-telling and individual coaching.
The current abstract presents the screening for non-adherence among antihypertensive
patients.
Objectives
- To identify patients who are non-adherent to their antihypertensive
medications based on a quick screen instrument.
- To study patient experiences and satisfaction with their antihypertensive
medicine.
- To identify potential drug related problems among antihypertensive
patients.
- To explore antihypertensive patients desire for information.
Method
The quick screen instrument is based on international validated scales
of desire for information and experiences with use of medicine . Items
addressing adherence behavior consisted of questions inspired from two
scales. The new items were produced to enable a distinction between intentional
and unintentional non-adherence.
To address the validity of the questionnaire as a screening tool, the
data from the questionnaire will be compared with data from: the Personal
Electronic Medication profile (PEM), the Medication Event Monitoring System
(MEMS) and clinical data on the patients.
The quick screen instrument was piloted on 90 patients during Spring 2005,
and amendments to the questionnaire were made accordingly. Screening for
non-adherence among patients treated with antihypertensive medication
is ongoing. The quick screen instrument has been mailed to approximately
2,800 patients expressing interest in the project. Initially, a pool of
10,000 patients identified from 12 Danish community pharmacies as receiving
antihypertensive medications were randomly selected, and received an invitation
to obtain more information about the project.
Results
Identification of non-adherence among antihypertensive patients, experiences
and satisfaction with their medicines, mapping of drug related problems
and investigation of desire for information among the respondents will
be presented.
Conclusion
The feasibility and validity of the questionnaire will be addressed.
References
1. Duggan C, Bates I, Sturman E, Andersson KÅ, Carlsson J. Validation
of a "desire for information" scale. Int J Pharm Pract 2002;
10; 31-7
Svarstad BL, Chewning BA, Sleath BL, Claesson C. The brief medication
questionnaire: A tool for screening patient adherence and barriers to
adherence. Patient Edication and Counceling 1999; 37; 113-124
Presented at the HSRPP Conference 2006, Bath
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