Medication compliance aids

Exploring the past, present and future of care home medicine management systems: pharmacists' perceptions of multicompartment compliance aids

Objectives

Medicines maintain and improve care home (CH) residents' health and therefore, it is imperative that CH medicine management systems are regularly evaluated to ensure they continually provide a high standard of care. Multicompartment compliance aid (MCA) medicine management systems are often used to assist United Kingdom CH staff with managing the large volume of medicines used by residents. This study aimed to identify the factors that led to the widespread adoption of MCAs into United Kingdom CHs, limitations associated with their current use and their relevance in the future.

Method

In June and July 2014 semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight pharmacists who were purposively selected for their expertise in CH medicine management systems in the United Kingdom. A qualitative thematic approach was employed in the analysis of data.

Key findings

Findings indicated that MCAs were introduced into CHs to address unsafe medicine administration practices and because of pharmacy commercial interest. Identified limitations included reduced staff alertness during medicine administration, restricted ability to identify medicines, and medicine wastage. Participants predicted continued use of MCAs in the future due to their perceived benefits of improved safety and efficiency, although some pharmacists recommended that they be removed and CH staff trained to administer medicines from original packaging.

Conclusion

These findings can contribute towards information used by health care providers when deciding on the relevance of MCAs in their current medicine management systems. Additionally, they can contribute towards information used by policy makers when revising United Kingdom CH medicine management guidelines.