Comprehensive medication review recipients' opinions, actions, and information recall

Assess patients' and caregivers' perceptions of comprehensive medication review (CMR) offers and when a CMR is needed, follow-up actions performed after the CMR, and recall of pharmacists' recommendations made during CMRs.

A 22-item cross-sectional survey with multiple response, 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree), yes/no, and free response prompts was administered to patients and caregivers who completed a CMR between October 1, 2014, and September 30, 2015. Surveys were administered to study participants by telephone or by mail if they were not reachable by telephone.

Eighty of 141 surveys were completed (57%). Respondents were mostly white, female, and age 65 years or older, with an annual income less than $25,000. Respondents indicated that they were likely to accept CMR offers from pharmacists or pharmacy technicians they know (100% and 94%, respectively) and by telephone call (90%). Respondents strongly agreed that CMRs should be completed annually and when initiating medication for a new diagnosis (median = 5; interquartile range, 3-5). Most respondents received at least 1 recommendation (90%), recalled receiving their CMR summary (66%), and discussed their CMR with their prescribers (67%). Respondents who reported receiving a pharmacist recommendation during their CMR were more likely to strongly agree they should have an annual CMR (P = 0.009). Accurate recall of recommendations made during CMRs was 54%. General health and medication recommendations were significantly associated with respondents' recall of recommendations (P = 0.011 and P = 0.045, respectively).

Patients and caregivers who received a CMR stated that they are likely to accept future CMR offers from a pharmacist or technician with whom they are familiar, and more patients and caregivers would accept offers by telephone than by other methods. In addition, a newly diagnosed condition presents an opportunity for strategic CMR appointment offers. Although pharmacists regularly made therapy interventions during CMRs, it is important to ensure that CMR recipients have clear instructions for follow-up with their prescribers.