Impact of pharmacist-led collaborative patient education on medication adherence and quality of life of schizophrenia patients in a tertiary care setting

• Published in: Bulletin of the Faculty of Pharmacy Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 345 - 349
• Main Authors: Mishra, Ambed, Sai Krishna, G, Sravani, A., Kurian, Tony D., Kurian, Justin, Ramesh, M., Kishor, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2017; Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University
• Subjects: Collaborative care; Medication adherence; Pharmacist; Quality of life; Schizophrenia; Medication adherence; Schizophrenia; Pharmacist; Collaborative care; Quality of life
• ISSN: 1110-0931; 2090-9101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bfopcu.2017.08.001

•Impact of findings on practice statements.•A pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative patient care model in India is proposed.•Patient education results in improved medication adherence and quality of life. Schizophrenia is a chronic mental-disorder and one of the top 10 causes of disability globally. Nearly 4.3 million people suffer from schizophrenia in India but very few visit a hospital for diagnosis or treatment. Of those patients who receive treatment, medication non-adherence and decreased quality of life (QOL) are the major problems. The objective of study was to assess the impact of pharmacist-led collaborative patient education on medication adherence and QOL in schizophrenia patients in a psychiatry out-patient setting of a tertiary-care setting. Patients were randomized into two groups. Interventional patients received medication review, followed by patient education session using Patient-Information Leaflets (PILs) developed for the study. Control patients received usual-care. Patients data were collected at the beginning of the study and after each follow-up of one-month interval, till 3rd follow-up. Medication adherence and QOL were assessed using Medication Adherence Rating Scale and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire respectively. Twenty-three patients completed the study, 13 were in the intervention and 10 in the control group. Majority of the study subjects were of age group 18–39years (69.56%) and female (65.21%). Medication adherence mean improvement was 0.7±0.67 and 1.75±0.2 in control and intervention groups respectively. Similarly, mean QOL improvement was 16.12±1.98 and 24.17±0.3 in control and intervention groups respectively. Statistically significant improvement in the mean medication adherence and QOL was observed in the intervention group. Results showed that pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative care can significantly improve patients’ medication adherence and QOL.