Evaluation of feedback on Medicines Use Reviews Provided in Italy from Patients with Asthma

Abstract

To obtain patients’ feedback on medicine use review (MUR) service provided to asthmatic patients in four Italian locations between 1st October 2012 and 31st January 2013. Method Patients were asthmatic and ≥ 18 years. Community pharmacists contacted all their patients who received the MUR service and invited them to complete a paper questionnaire. Patients returned the questionnaire in a sealed envelope to the pharmacy and the pharmacist then returned them unopened to the researchers. Questionnaire distribution took place between 15th October 2013 and 15th November 2013. Ethics approval to conduct this study was obtained from the University of Kent. Results Patients receiving the MUR were 895, the number completing the questionnaire 246 (27% response rate). Respondents were from Brescia 31%, 27.8% Pistoia, 25.7% Treviso and 15.5% Torino. There were 56.7% females and 43.3% males. The most important benefit patients hoped to get from the MUR was making sure they were using their medications correctly (62.9%). Before having the MUR, 50% of patients stated that they were neither worried (53.4%) nor had problems (56.2%) with their medicines. After the MUR 75.2% of patients confirmed they benefited from the MUR, 37.4% suggested that MUR found problems with medications and 27.1% confirmed that changes were made to their medication after the MUR. One out of two patients would like to have another MUR and 85.5% would recommend the MUR service to other patients. Conclusions The majority of patients (75.2%) felt they benefited from having an MUR and felt involved in the decision making process. More (37.4%) confirmed that MUR found problems with their medications than wanted to discuss concerns before having the MUR. The results suggest that patients had benefits from the MUR service, and general views on the MUR processes were also very positive.