Impact of Clinical Pharmacist Mediated Discharge Counseling and SMS Reminders Service on Medication Adherence in Chronic Disorders

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to assess the effect of discharge counseling with SMS reminders on medication adherence in chronic disorders. Study Design:  Prospective randomized open-label trial Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the dispensing department of a secondary care referral charity hospital located in a small village. The study was conducted for a period of six months from October 2018 to April 2019. Methodology: Upon consent, a total of 364 patients were enrolled in this study and randomized into two groups viz., intervention group (n=182) and control group (n=182) respectively, with and without discharge counseling and SMS reminder on medication usage by the clinical pharmacist.  The level of medication adherence was measured using a pill count and visual analog scale (VAS) methods at two follow-up visits includes baseline and final follow-up visit (gap of two months). A two-sample Wilcoxon rank‑sum (Mann–Whitney) was used to compare the statistical mean difference of medication adherence levels between two groups at each follow‑up visit. Results: The mean age of intervention and control groups were 57.1±8.55 and 58.5±8.53; most of the subjects were >60 years of age and were typically suffering from hypertension (30.2%) and diabetes (34.8%). Initially, at baseline, the values of medication adherence level (pill-count method) were closer in both intervention (82.4±7.3) and control group (81.35±6.4), whereas at follow up visits, the levels of the intervention group (93.2±6.0, 95.6±2.25) were significantly increased (p<0.0001) as compared to the control group (81.2±8.5, 80.6±8.1). Conclusion: Thus, the statistical significance infers that the clinical pharmacist-mediated discharge counseling with SMS reminders would increase medication adherence levels in chronic disorders.