The Effectiveness of Pharmacist-Led Medication Review in Petaling District Health Office

Abstract

Medication review is an important service in optimising medicine use and improves clinical outcomes. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of pharmacist-led medication review on patients’ knowledge and adherence. For this prospective study, 480 patients were randomly recruited in six primary healthcare clinics in Petaling District Health Office. Patients were interviewed with a questionnaire and validated medication adherence scale during recruitment and at follow-up visit to assess their medication knowledge and adherence. The data was analysed using Chi-square tests and paired t-tests to determine the correlation between medication knowledge and adherence with patient demographics. Among 408 patients that had completed the follow-up, 16.9% of patients showed medication knowledge deficits on recruitment. However, there is a significant improvement in the medication knowledge indices during the follow-up session (p < 0.001). Elderly patients were found to benefit from medication review with better medication knowledge and adherence postmedication review. The study found that the number of good adherers increased by 29.3% after the medication review. A further study demonstrating the effectiveness of medication review in cultivating knowledge retention and sustained adherence in the longer-term is warranted. Future work shall also focus on measuring the cost-effectiveness of pharmacistled medication review implementation in primary healthcare settings. Pharmacist-led medication review is an essential and effective service in primary health care facilities for patients to enhance their knowledge on their medications, and adherence especially in elderly patients on chronic medications.