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Use of the 'Making Medicines Work for You' screener to identify medication adherence barriers in heart failure
Jason Ling1, Thanusa Vijayakumar2, Gayle Campbell3,2
1Cardiology Department, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals NHS Trust, London, England, UK jason.ling1@nhs.net.
Background:
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic syndrome where poor adherence undermines the benefits of pharmacological therapy. This study evaluated the 'Making Medicines Work for You' screener, a brief Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) based tool used to identify adherence barriers in HF patients.
Method:
A retrospective cross-sectional single-site study was conducted in outpatient community and hospital pharmacist and nurse-led HF outpatient clinics between January-November 2024. Statistical analysis was undertaken to identify associations (Chi-squared, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)) and differences (post-Hoc Tukey) between patient and clinical factors.
Results:
Of 500 patients assessed (median age 69 years, range 17-98), 44.2% (n=221) had at least one adherence related barrier. The most common barrier identified was forgetfulness (21.2%, n=106). Older patients were more likely to experience adherence related barriers (p=0.006). More barriers were reported during pharmacist consultations compared with nurse-led consultations (p<0.001).
Conclusion:
The screener tool effectively identified adherence related barriers in patients. Screener responses may inform targeted, clinician-led interventions.
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