Dose Administration Aid Service in Community Pharmacies: Characterization and Impact Assessment

Adherence to therapies is a primary determinant of treatment success. Lack of medication adherence is often associated with medical and psychosocial issues due to complications from underlying conditions and is an enormous waste of medical resources. Dose Administration Aid Service (DAAS) can be seen as part of the solution, allowing individual medicine doses to be organized according to the dosing schedule determined by the patient's prescriber. The most recent systematic reviews admit the possibility of a positive impact of this service. In line with this background, the study reported in this paper aimed to characterize DAAS implementation in Portugal and understand the perceptions of pharmacists and owners of community pharmacies regarding the impact of DAAS, preferred methodology types, and State contribution. The study was guided by qualitative description methodology and reported using the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) checklist. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 pharmacists and/or owners of community pharmacies. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified categories that revealed that automated weekly methodology is the preferred methodology, because of its easiness of use and lower cost of preparation. However, the investment cost was felt to be too high by the participants considering the number of potential users for implementation in practice. Participants were also unanimous in recognizing that DAAS has a very positive impact in terms of safety and medication adherence, and the majority agreed that it also helped reduce medication waste. Implications of these findings for medication adherence are discussed.