Abstract
Chronic diseases are a major cause of death and have a negative impact on community health. This study explored the effects of a chronic-disease management program utilizing the physician–primary-healthcare nurse telemedicine model (P–NTM) on medication adherence and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in 113 patients with chronic diseases in remote rural areas. We used a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent-control-group pretest–post-test design. This study used secondary data from the 2018 Pilot Telemedicine Project for Underserved Remote Rural Areas. In this study, 113 subjects participated, in which the patient’s first visit was assigned as a control group for the previous face-to-face hospital care; after three months of receiving the P–NTM program, the same subjects were assigned to be the experiment group for P–NTM. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, a paired t-test, and logistic regression. With regard to the results, subjects showed a 1.76 times higher probability of improving medication adherence after participating in P–NTM compared to hospital care (odds ratio (OR) = 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34–2.31). Our findings showed that patients with chronic diseases, especially those who reside in remote rural areas, should be provided with effective health services, utilizing various strategies to enhance a healthy life.
Highlights
Chronic diseases are the leading global cause of death, accounting for about 70% of all deaths [1]
The subjects of this study were patients with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes visited in primary-healthcare centers or clinics located in 11 remote rural areas selected as medically underserved locations
Medication adherence and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) related to telemedicine were repeatedly collected after three months of participation in the primary-healthcare nurse telemedicine model (P–NTM)
Summary
Chronic diseases are the leading global cause of death, accounting for about 70% of all deaths [1]. Most chronic diseases may deteriorate the living capacity and functional levels of patients, thereby reducing the overall health level and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) [2]. If patients with chronic diseases do not follow medication guidelines, they cause negative clinical results, and HRQoL is lowered, causing additional costs [2,3,4]. As many as 30–50% of chronic-disease patients reported that they do not take drugs as prescribed [9,10]. The rate of medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases has been diversely reported to be 30–70% for hypertension patients [7] and 36–93%
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
