Adherence: a review of education, research, practice, and policy in the United States

Nathaniel M. Rickles, Todd A. Brown, Melissa S. McGivney, Margie E. Snyder, Kelsey A. White
2010 Pharmacy Practice  
Objective: To describe the education, research, practice, and policy related to pharmacist interventions to improve medication adherence in community settings in the United States. Methods: Authors used MEDLINE and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (since 1990) to identify community and ambulatory pharmacy intervention studies which aimed to improve medication adherence. The authors also searched the primary literature using Ovid to identify studies related to the pharmacy teaching of
more » ... ation adherence. The bibliographies of relevant studies were reviewed in order to identify additional literature. We searched the tables of content of three US pharmacy education journals and reviewed the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy website for materials on teaching adherence principles. Policies related to medication adherence were identified based on what was commonly known to the authors from professional experience, attendance at professional meetings, and pharmacy journals. Results: Research and Practice: 29 studies were identified: 18 randomized controlled trials; 3 prospective cohort studies; 2 retrospective cohort studies; 5 case-controlled studies; and one other study. There was considerable variability in types of interventions and use of adherence measures. Many of the interventions were completed by
doi:10.4321/s1886-36552010000100001 fatcat:eb2diub7hzgi7kc22h5hty3cai