[Development of clinical pharmacy services to improve drug adherence in psychiatric hospital patients].
In the present study, we investigated whether the pharmacy services in our psychiatric hospital helped to improve the attitude of psychiatric patients to drugs. The subjects were 168 patients who received advice on medication at the hospital between August 2008 and December 2009. We found that anxiety about medication in 76% of these patients was relieved by the provision of clinical pharmacy services. This can be attributed to patients gaining an understanding of the importance of taking medication at a particular time, drug types, drug efficacy and drug-induced adverse events. Patient drug adherence scores using the 10-item version of the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) were significantly improved after pharmacy services were provided, indicating an improvement in drug adherence. There was a significant positive correlation between the DAI-10 score and understanding of the necessity for medication, but no correlation between the DAI-10 score and the amount of drug administered or number of doses taken per day. These results suggest that the clinical pharmacy services improve understanding of the importance of medication timing, drug type, drug efficacy and drug-induced adverse events, and also relieve medication anxiety, enhance understanding of the necessity of taking medication and improve patient attitude to a drug. We intend to further take comprehensive measures including educational, behavioral and emotional intervention.
Division of Clinical Science and Neuropsychopharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan.
Ai
A
Tamaji
Akira
A
Sakai
Motoko
M
Sato
Yukiko
Y
Ikema
Kiyohide
K
Matsuzaki
Hideaki
H
Tabuse
Yukihiro
Y
Noda
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016903:Drug Monitoring