Abstract
BackgroundAdherence to medication is often low. Pharmacists may improve adherence, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not work: different patients have different needs. Goal of the current study is to assess the effectiveness of a patient-tailored, telephone-based intervention by a pharmacist at the start of pharmacotherapy aimed at improving medication adherence, satisfaction with information and counselling and the beliefs about medicines.Methods/DesignA cluster randomized controlled intervention trial in 30 Dutch pharmacies, randomly assigned to 1 of 2 intervention groups. Each group consists of an intervention arm and an usual care arm. The intervention arm in the first group is the usual care arm in the second group and vice versa. One intervention arm focuses on patients starting with antidepressants or bisphosphonates and the other on antilipaemic drugs or renin angiotensin system (RAS)-inhibitors. The intervention consists of a telephone call by a pharmacist 2 or 3 weeks after a new prescription. A random sample of pharmacies will send questionnaires 3 months after the first prescription. This contains socio-demographic questions, a measure of beliefs about medicines (BMQ), satisfaction with information received (SIMS, abbreviated) and frequency of pharmacy counselling (Consumer Quality Index, CQI, abbreviated). The primary outcome measure will be medication adherence calculated from dispensing records retrieved 12 months after the intervention. Patients’ beliefs on medication, perception of the quality of information received and pharmacy counselling are secondary outcomes.DiscussionThe TelCIP study will determine the effectiveness of telephone counselling to improve adherence in patients initiating a new treatment. By measuring satisfaction with information and counselling and beliefs about medication the study will also give clues for the reason of a potential increase in adherence. Finally the study will provide information on which patients are most likely to benefit from this intervention.Trial registrationThe trial is registered at http://www.trialregister.nl under the identifier NTR3237.
Highlights
IntroductionGoal of the current study is to assess the effectiveness of a patient-tailored, telephone-based intervention by a pharmacist at the start of pharmacotherapy aimed at improving medication adherence, satisfaction with information and counselling and the beliefs about medicines
The TelCIP study will determine the effectiveness of telephone counselling to improve adherence in patients initiating a new treatment
The main objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of a patient-tailored, telephone intervention by a pharmacist at the start of pharmacotherapy on (1) adherence, (2) beliefs about medicines and (3) satisfaction with information and counselling
Summary
Goal of the current study is to assess the effectiveness of a patient-tailored, telephone-based intervention by a pharmacist at the start of pharmacotherapy aimed at improving medication adherence, satisfaction with information and counselling and the beliefs about medicines. Adherence to medication therapy in general is often low [1,2,3]. There are many different factors involved in non-adherence including social and economic factors, the characteristics of the disease and its therapy and health-care provide related factors and patientrelated factors such as beliefs about medicines [3,4,5,6]. Providing patients with appropriate information about medication has been associated with improved adherence resulting in improved treatment outcomes. Negative attitudes and barriers that prevent adherent behaviour should be addressed
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