Abstract
The aim of this systematic review was to describe and assess nurse-led interventions to enhance medication adherence and clinical outcomes among adults in community care. PubMed, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and CENTRAL were searched for relevant studies. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published 2011–2021 that tested nurse-led interventions with community-dwelling patients and quantitatively measured adherence were included. Adherence and clinical outcomes were analyzed descriptively. Seventeen RCTs fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were of acceptable quality. The studies varied in sample size, loss to follow-up rates, study subject ages, medical conditions, and pharmacotherapy. The nurse-led interventions were complex and multifaceted. Four (23.5%) and seven (41.2%) RCTs reported statistically significant effects of nurse-led interventions on medication adherence and clinical outcomes (e.g., blood pressure, quality of life), respectively, when compared with control arms. All studies had methodological quality limitations. In conclusion, low-quality evidence suggests that some nurse-led interventions may improve medication adherence and clinical outcomes in patients living in the community. Future research should focus on the effective components of interventions identified here, such as motivational interviewing, adherence aids, patient education and eHealth components, and include defined clinical endpoints, for example, hospital admissions, all-cause mortality, and cost-effectiveness.
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
