Self-Reported Nonadherence Associated with Pharmacy and Home Medication Management Inconvenience Factors in a US Adult Population

Exploring public perception and utilization of medication home delivery services in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

The Medication Home Delivery (MHD) service from community pharmacies involves the safe and efficient delivery of pharmaceuticals (prescription and non-prescription medications), and health products directly to the patient's/consumer's home. There are several issues encountered by the users of the MHD service that have an impact on their satisfaction with the service. The study aimed to assess the public's perceptions of the MHD service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), their willingness to utilize it, and the practical use of the service.

METHOD

A cross-sectional exploratory study was conducted in the UAE using a validated online survey. The inclusion criteria were adults residing in the UAE. Statistical analysis was performed to identify the association between the variables, the service use, and the level of service efficiency.

RESULTS

A total of 556 participants filled out the survey, with 69.4% of them using the service. The majority of participants were females (75.9%) and aged less than 40 years old (71.6%). Three variables showed a statistically significant association with the use of the MHD service (P < 0.05): the participant's educational level, their medical/health background, and the frequency of visits to community pharmacies. The most common issues raised were receiving the wrong order, delay in delivery, and paying delivery fees. Most participants agreed that the MHD service reduces the risk of exposure during pandemics, serves the elderly, serves disabled people, makes it more comfortable for parents with children at home, and reduces overcrowding in health facilities, as well as the MHD service making pharmacy services more efficient.

CONCLUSION

The study indicated positive perceptions among the public in the UAE towards the MHD service. However, there was a concern that this service may diminish the communication between pharmacists and patients, which potentially minimizes the amount of information received by patients regarding their treatments.

Factors Influencing Antihypertensive Medication Adherence Among Historically Underrepresented Adults: A Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Addressing disparities in blood pressure control must include supporting antihypertensive medication adherence (MA). Developing effective MA interventions requires identifying the most important factors influencing MA.

OBJECTIVE

In this review, the authors aimed to meta-analyze the results of research testing associations between factors potentially influencing antihypertensive MA and assessed antihypertensive MA in historically underrepresented populations. Additional exploratory analyses focused on system-level factors, which have been understudied and may particularly impact disparities in MA.

METHODS

A health sciences librarian assisted with searching across 10 databases. Inclusion criteria included (1) published in English, (2) sample of adults with hypertension, (3) ≥50% of participants having self-identified as a race/ethnicity underrepresented in the country where the study was conducted, and (4) reporting sufficient data to calculate effect size(s).

RESULTS

Fifty-eight studies were eligible for inclusion. Nine factors met criteria for planned analyses. Older age ( r = 0.08, P < .01; k = 26 studies) and higher income ( r = 0.11, P = .01; k = 15) were significantly correlated with better MA. Having depressive symptoms was significantly correlated with worse MA ( r = -0.18, P < .01; k = 11). Effect sizes for sex, education level, marital status, number of medications, comorbidities, and perceived social support were not significant. System-level factors examined included insurance coverage, access to healthcare, perceived barriers, having a primary care provider, perceptions of their healthcare provider, and experiences of discrimination in healthcare.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the impact of factors associated with antihypertensive MA in historically underrepresented adults can support development of targeted, culturally relevant MA interventions. Future research should examine the impact of system-level factors on antihypertensive MA among historically underrepresented populations.

Understanding Processes, Outcomes, and Contexts in Medication Adherence: The Medication Adherence Context and Outcomes (MACO) Framework

Poor medication adherence is a significant problem, yet interventions to improve it have been largely ineffective. Existing ecological models indicate that adherence is multi-dimensional; however, they do not reflect understanding of context-specific processes and how they lead to adherence outcomes. A framework that reflects context-specific processes is important because it could be used to inform context-specific intervention delivery and measure associated adherence outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to describe the Medication Adherence Context and Outcomes (MACO) framework, which includes contexts (ie, clinics, pharmacies, and home) and context-specific processes (ie, shared decision-making, prescription filling strategies, home medication management) that lead to adherence outcomes (initiation, implementation, discontinuation, and persistence). The Medication and Adherence Contexts and Outcomes (MACO) framework was iteratively developed between 2015 and 2018 based on theory, practice, and research and combining patient experience journey mapping to chronologically describe the environmental contexts and actions (processes) that occur within the contexts and how they contribute to medication adherence as outcome. The three distinct yet interrelated contexts described in the MACO framework are 1) clinical encounters, 2) pharmacy encounters, and 3) day-to-day home management. Within these contexts are specific medication management actions that occur (processes) in order to produce adherence-related outcomes (initiation, implementation, and discontinuation/persistence). The MACO framework distinguishes context-specific processes and outcomes. The MACO framework may be useful to understand at which point(s) along the continuum people experience problems with managing medications. This understanding is potentially useful for developing and delivering context-specific interventions that are based on processes that underlie nonadherence and selecting adherence measures appropriate for the contexts.

Providing pharmaceutical care remotely through medicines delivery services in community pharmacy

Background

The delivery of pharmaceutical care - and what that means - has been at the centre of many transformations of the pharmacy profession in the last century. Today, the exponential growth of pharmacies which provide pharmaceutical care exclusively online has placed increased scrutiny on the quality of the care they provide.

Aim

As more patients are managed by remote pharmaceutical care (via medicines delivery services), we sought to critically evaluate this service to identify new research directions.

Methods

The COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research and Standards for reporting qualitative research guideline provided the methodological framework throughout this process.

Results

We reveal that although home delivery services ensure that many patients have access to their medicines, it may reduce time available to provide comprehensive pharmaceutical care, particularly in traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacies.

Conclusion

We highlight a critical need for research in this area and suggest a variety of research directions: is remote pharmaceutical care a matter of convenience? Does remote pharmaceutical care help patients adhere to their medicines? How do digital health innovations impact care across patient demographics? What does comprehensive pharmaceutical care mean for patients?

"It's a mess sometimes": patient perspectives on provider responses to healthcare costs, and how informatics interventions can help support cost-sensitive care decisions

OBJECTIVE

We investigated patient experiences with medication- and test-related cost conversations with healthcare providers to identify their preferences for future informatics tools to facilitate cost-sensitive care decisions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted 18 semistructured interviews with diverse patients (ages 24-81) in a Midwestern health system in the United States. We identified themes through 2 rounds of qualitative coding.

RESULTS

Patients believed their providers could help reduce medication-related costs but did not see how providers could influence test-related costs. Patients viewed cost conversations about medications as beneficial when providers could adjust medical recommendations or provide resources. However, cost conversations did not always occur when patients felt they were needed. Consequently, patients faced a "cascade of work" to address affordability challenges. To prevent this, collaborative informatics tools could facilitate cost conversations and shared decision-making by providing information about a patient's financial constraints, enabling comparisons of medication/testing options, and addressing transportation logistics to facilitate patient follow-through.

DISCUSSION

Like providers, patients want informatics tools that address patient out-of-pocket costs. They want to discuss healthcare costs to reduce the frequency of unaffordable costs and obtain proactive assistance. Informatics interventions could minimize the cascade of patient work through shared decision-making and preventative actions. Such tools might integrate information about efficacy, costs, and side effects to support decisions, present patient decision aids, facilitate coordination among healthcare units, and eventually improve patient outcomes.

CONCLUSION

To prevent a burdensome cascade of work for patients, informatics tools could be designed to support cost conversations and decisions between patients and providers.

Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Background

Medication nonadherence is a global public health challenge that results in suboptimal health outcomes and increases health care costs. Forgetting to take medicines is one of the most common reasons for unintentional medication nonadherence. Research findings indicate that voice-activated virtual home assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, may be useful in promoting medication adherence.

Objective

This study aims to create a medication adherence app (skill), MedBuddy, for Amazon Echo devices and measure the use, usability, and usefulness of this medication-taking reminder skill.

Methods

A single-group, mixed methods, cohort feasibility study was conducted with women who took oral contraceptives (N=25). Participants were undergraduate students (age: mean 21.8 years, SD 6.2) at an urban university in the Southeast United States. Participants were given an Amazon Echo Dot with MedBuddy—a new medication reminder skill for Echo devices created by our team—attached to their study account, which they used for 60 days. Participants self-reported their baseline and poststudy medication adherence. MedBuddy use was objectively evaluated by tracking participants’ interactions with MedBuddy through Amazon Alexa. The usability and usefulness of MedBuddy were evaluated through a poststudy interview in which participants responded to both quantitative and qualitative questions.

Results

Participants’ interactions with MedBuddy, as tracked through Amazon Alexa, only occurred on half of the study days (mean 50.97, SD 29.5). At study end, participants reported missing their medication less in the past 1 and 6 months compared with baseline (χ²₁=0.9 and χ²₁=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P<.001 for both). However, there was no significant difference in participants’ reported adherence to consistently taking medication within the same 2-hour time frame every day in the past 1 or 6 months at the end of the study compared with baseline (χ²₁=3.5 and χ²₁=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P=.63 and P=.07, respectively). Overall feedback about usability was positive, and participants provided constructive feedback about the skill’s features that could be improved. Participants’ evaluation of MedBuddy’s usefulness was overwhelmingly positive—most (15/23, 65%) said that they would continue using MedBuddy as a medication reminder if provided with the opportunity and that they would recommend it to others. MedBuddy features that participants enjoyed were an external prompt separate from their phone, the ability to hear the reminder prompt from a separate room, multiple reminders, and verbal responses to prompts.

Conclusions

The findings of this feasibility study indicate that the MedBuddy medication reminder skill may be useful in promoting medication adherence. However, the skill could benefit from further usability enhancements.