The effectiveness of pharmacist intervention by telephone on patient compliance is being investigated by a research group led by Professor Nick Barber (professor of the practice of pharmacy, school of pharmacy, University of London).
The first part of the project, which has already been completed, assessed the needs of patients prescribed chronic therapy for the first time. A total of 272 patients who were receiving a medicine long term for the first time were recruited through branches of Moss Pharmacy.
At 10 days after recruitment, and after four weeks, patients were interviewed by telephone about compliance and their information needs relating to their new medicine. A questionnaire was also sent to patients at the same time.
The results showed that, after 10 days, 22 per cent of patients had missed taking their new medicine at some stage. Reasons for this included forgetting to take the medicine (42 per cent), medicine disrupting the patient's routine (24 per cent), side effects of the medicine/interactions (23 per cent) and the new treatment regime being too complicated (2 per cent). Pharmacists scored highly as a useful source of information, rated third behind general practitioners and written material.
A number of patients (21 per cent) wanted more information about what the medicine was for and how it worked. Others (9 per cent) wanted more information about how to use the medicine, including the time of day that it should be taken and whether or not it was possible to combine it with food or drink. Side effects and interactions were of concern for 14 per cent of patients. The researchers concluded that a telephone intervention was suitable for identifying and meeting the information needs of patients starting to take long-term medicines for the first time.
The next stage of the research project will investigate at what stage patients require information about new medicines. It will also examine whether pharmacist intervention to provide information to the patient can improve compliance.
Mr Rob Darracott (professional services executive, Moss Pharmacy) commented: "While it is difficult to be prescriptive at this stage, the indications already suggest a number of ways in which pharmacists may be able to improve outcomes for patients, from responding directly to these new information needs as they are identified, to providing reminder devices or formalising feedback to GPs."