Pharmacist impact on medication adherence and understanding in cystic fibrosis patients

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of this study are to: (1) assess barriers to medication adherence in cystic fibrosis patients and (2) evaluate a community pharmacist's impact on medication understanding and adherence after providing counseling and addressing patient-identified barriers. Methods: A large community pharmacy chain will be providing a pharmacist- run educational service to cystic fibrosis patients aged 18 years and older. Patients will be identified for the service during their appointments with their cystic fibrosis health care team and given a flyer about the study. The community pharmacist will meet with the patients who volunteer to participate and the pharmacist will conduct a questionnaire to assess for medication adherence and understanding. Based on the questionnaire results, the pharmacist will counsel the patient and provide education on the medications with identified barriers to adherence. Two weeks after the initial visit, the pharmacist will call the patient to briefly review what was discussed in the counseling session and answer any further questions. Three attempts will be made to contact the patient. Finally, during the patient's next visit to the clinic, which will take place either 2 or 3 months after the previous visit, the pharmacist will give the patient a final questionnaire, which includes the content from the first questionnaire plus additional questions to assess for patient satisfaction with the intervention. The collected data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine frequency of barriers, assess rates of adherence and population trends, and analyze patient satisfaction after the intervention.