Objective:
To describe the practice, education and research concerning medication
adherence in Danish community pharmacy.
Methods: The authors supplemented their expertise in the area
of medication adherence through their contacts with other educators
and researchers as well as by conducting searches in the Danish
Pharmacy Practice Evidence Database, which provides annually updated
literature reviews on intervention research in Danish pharmacy
practice.
Results: Practice: Medication adherence is the focus of and/or
is supported by a large number of services and initiatives used
in pharmacy practice such as governmental funding, IT-supported
medicine administration systems, dose-dispensing systems, theme
years in pharmacies on adherence and concordance, standards for
counselling at the counter, pharmacist counselling, medication
reviews and inhaler technique assessment. Education: In Denmark,
pharmacy and pharmaconomist students are extensively trained in
the theory and practice of adherence to therapy.
Pharmacy staff can choose from a variety of continuing education
and post-graduate programmes which address patient adherence.
Research: Nine ongoing and recently completed studies are described.
Early research in Denmark comprised primarily smaller, qualitative
studies centred on user perspectives, whereas later research has
shifted the focus towards larger, quantitative, controlled studies
and action-oriented studies focusing on patient groups with chronic
diseases (such as diabetes, asthma, coronary vascular diseases).
Conclusions: Our analysis has documented that Danish pharmaceutical
education and research has focused strongly on adherence to treatment
for more than three decades. Adherence initiatives in Danish community
pharmacies have developed substantially in the past 5-10 years,
and, as pharmacies have prioritised their role in health care
and patient safety, this development can be expected to continue
in future years.
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