Improving Medication Therapy Through a Digital Interdisciplinary Medicine Therapy Optimisation Model
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Telepharmacy service.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Medication-related Problems, Self-reported Medication Adherence, Health-related Quality of Life, Beliefs About Medicines. Basic parameters: from 65 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Sweden
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Improving Medication Therapy and Patient Involvement Through a Digital Interdisciplinary Model Among Old People in Primary Care Living in Sparsely Populated Regions in Sweden
Overview
In this study, a telepharmacy service in primary care for home-living older adults in Northern Sweden's rural areas will be developed and evaluated. The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of the service regarding the identification, classification, and resolution of medication-related problems (MRPs). Secondary objectives are to evaluate participants' medication adherence, health-related quality of life, and beliefs about medicines through self-report questionnaires. The telepharmacy service include medication interviews, structured medication reviews, interdisciplinary patient-centred discussions, and follow-ups.
Detailed description
Participants that meet the inclusion criteria will be invited to participate in the study via mail. The participants will also receive three validated questionnaires; Medication Adherence Report Scale-5 (MARS-5), EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) and The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) to fill in prior to initiation of the study, to collect baseline data. The intervention consists of several steps, and all meetings will be conducted through video conferencing via a secure virtual care platform. Initially, the participant will have a medication interview with a clinical pharmacist, Next, the clinical pharmacist conducts a structured medication review based on information from the interview and the participant's medical records and laboratory values. The clinical pharmacist and the participant's primary care physician will then have a video-based interdisciplinary meeting. During this meeting, the clinical pharmacist presents recommendations to resolve potential MRPs, and the physician may accept or reject the pharmacist's recommendations. The primary-care physician informs the participant about any changes in their medication therapy and follows-up and monitors these changes. Video-based follow-up meetings between the participant and the clinical pharmacist will take place 1-2, 4 and 12 weeks after the first video-based meeting. Additional meetings can be scheduled, if requested by the participant, or if considered necessary by the clinical pharmacist. The clinical pharmacist will also conduct medical record reviews once every two weeks during the 12-week intervention period. At 12 weeks, after the last follow-up, the participant will be asked to fill in the three questionnaires one more time.
Interventions
- Other Telepharmacy service
Video-based medication interviews, structured medication reviews, interdisciplinary patient-centred discussions, follow-ups
Primary outcome measures
- Identification and classfication of medication-related problems [Time frame: The 12-week intervention period]
- Resolution of medication-related problems [Time frame: 12-week intervention period]
- Intra-individual change in self-reported medication adherence: Medication Adherence Report Scale-5 (MARS-5) [Time frame: Baseline and 12 weeks]
- Intra-individual change in self-reported health-related quality of life: EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) [Time frame: Baseline and 12 weeks]
- Intra-individual change in self-reported beliefs about medicines: The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) [Time frame: Baseline and 12 weeks]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Using five or more prescribed medications and/or considered as a potential candidate by the primary care physician.
- Living at home (i.e not in a nursing home)
- Registered at primary healthcare centres in rural municipalities within Västerbotten County (and neighbouring counties if necessary)
Exclusion criteria
- Do not speak Swedish
- Unable to communicate
- Has a confirmed major neurocognitive disorder
- Receives palliative care
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- N/A
- Model
- Single group
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
Study locations
Sweden · 2 centers
- Åsele healthcare centre — Åsele
- Storuman healthcare centre — Storuman
Publications
- Westberg A, Andersson P, Sonnerstam E, Mattsson S, Holmner A, Edin-Liljegren A, Gustafsson M. Development and evaluation of a telepharmacy service in primary care for home-living older adults in Northern Sweden's rural areas: protocol for a single-arm interventional study. BMJ Open. 2025 Nov 19;15(11):e110198. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110198. PMID 41263936
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05629936 · UMU-MTO-2022