Unmet healthcare needs of people with multimorbidity-can community pharmacists close the gap?

Abstract

Objectives: Identify factors associated with unmet healthcare needs in patients with multimorbidity and determine the support community pharmacists can offer to meet these needs.

Methods: People with multimorbidity were recruited from community pharmacies where research assistants approached all patients and asked them questions to determine their eligibility: having two or more chronic conditions, being at least 18 years old, and speaking either Arabic or English. Those who met the criteria were invited to participate in the study. Consenting participants completed a survey designed based on international guidelines, utilizing validated tools to measure healthcare needs, quality of life, treatment burden, and medication self-efficacy. Generalized linear models were used to identify predictors of unmet needs.

Key findings: Two hundred and twenty-four participants completed the survey (response rate = 81%). Participants indicated significant healthcare needs particularly in areas such as communication and relationships (M = 4.4 ± 0.9) and medication information (M = 3.8 ± 0.7). Higher education and medication self-efficacy were associated with lower needs for counselling (B = -0.966; P < .001 and B = -113; P < .001, respectively) and communication (B = -0.547; P < .008 and B = -0.088; P = .003, respectively).

Conclusions: This study demonstrated community pharmacists' potential to address multimorbidity. To optimize their role, primary healthcare delivery needs to be reorganized to empower pharmacists to support patients with complex healthcare needs.