Are patient's simply unaware? A cross-sectional study of website promotion of community pharmacy adherence-related services in Tennessee

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• 作者：Kenneth C. Hohmeier ; Pharm.D. ; ^{khohmeie@uthsc.edu" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Nancy Borja-Hart ; Pharm.D. ; B.C.P.S.
• 关键词：Adherence ; Community pharmacy ; Website ; Patient awareness ; Patient education
• 刊名：Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November-December 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：12
• 期：6
• 页码：1004-1009
• 全文大小：281 K

文摘

Medication adherence rates can impact patient outcomes, quality of life, and health care costs. Community pharmacists who offer adherence-related services are well positioned to bolster medication adherence rates. One means for patients to learn more about these services is through the pharmacy's website. However, the prevalence of pharmacies' promotion of adherence services through the internet is unknown.

Objectives

The present study aimed to quantify the online promotion of pharmacies' adherence-related services.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional, observational study of websites representing licensed community pharmacies. One-hundred and sixty-nine community pharmacy websites, representing 1161 of community pharmacies in Tennessee (U.S. State), were included in the observational analysis.

Results

The most commonly promoted adherence-related service was online refills (81.1%). Auto refill, medication synchronization, and packaging systems were promoted on <20% pharmacy websites. Types of promoted adherence services differed between chain and independent pharmacy websites.

Conclusions

Despite 67% of pharmacies offering adherence-related services, only a fraction of them promote these services online. Patient awareness represents a hidden and often unaddressed variable in increasing adherence. Future studies should investigate whether increasing website promotion of these services would increase service use, and potentially improve adherence rates.