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Background In 2017, ostomy patients gained access to ostomy products in community pharmacies that are fully reimbursed by the Portuguese National Health Service. This impacted the daily lives of people with ostomy and opened a new market of products and services for pharmacies. However, little is known about the sociodemographic and clinical profile of ostomy patients. This study aims to characterize people with ostomy and their caregivers, evaluate access and satisfaction with the pharmacy and explore participants’ expectations regarding services and counselling. Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional, multicentre study involving pharmacy users who acquired ostomy products in Portuguese community pharmacies. Data were collected through a confidential self-report questionnaire between June and August 2019. Results Approximately 56% of the participants were ostomy patients, of whom 65.9% were men. The average age of participating ostomy patients was 65.5 years old (SD = 12.9), and near 80% were retired/pensioners. Caregivers were mostly women (81.7%). More than half of the caregivers were employed and acquired products for a direct family member. Three in every four surgical interventions were consequences of cancer. Intestinal ostomy was the most common intervention (78.3%). More than 93% were satisfied with the acquisition of ostomy products at the pharmacy. Approximately 48.2% of ostomy patients received care from a specialized nurse. Conclusion This study describes the profile of people with ostomy and their caregivers who attend community pharmacies in Portugal. Participants’ perceptions of the utility of different proposed services and pharmacist knowledge, as well as the low coverage of ostomy nursing care, highlight the opportunity for an extended role of pharmacists among this group.

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Objective Poor compliance to antihypertensive medications has been identified as a primary cause of uncontrolled blood pressure (BP), with consequent increases in hypertension‐related morbidity and mortality. Therefore, any measure known to improve compliance should be encouraged. This study assessed the impact of reminder cards on compliance to antihypertensive therapy. Method A field trial was undertaken in pharmacies located in the districts of Lisbon and Porto. Eligible participants comprised those aged 30–74 years, prescribed an angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) in monotherapy, and taken on a once‐daily regimen. Patients were allocated to control group (CG) or intervention group (IG), the latter being provided with a reminder card, an alarm‐type device due to remind the patient of the time to take his medication. Patients were monitored monthly during 3 months for compliance and blood pressure control. Key findings Seventy‐one patients participated in the study (intervention: 35; control group: 36). Compliance was similar between the groups in the first 2 months of follow‐up (97.1% IG vs 94.9% CG at first follow‐up and 97.5% IG vs 94.2% CG at second follow‐up) and higher in the intervention group at the end of the study (97.3% IG vs 87.3% CG; P = 0.011). There were no mean blood pressure differences between compliant and non‐compliant subjects at the end of the study (P value for differences in systolic BP (Psyst) = 0.580; and P value for differences in diastolic BP (Pdlast) = 0.175). Conclusion This small‐scale study indicates a possible positive impact on patients' compliance resulting from the use of reminder cards. However, this needs confirming in larger scale studies with longer monitoring periods.

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PurposeSeveral methods have been developed for assessing medication-taking behavior; understanding the determinants and variability in estimates obtained is crucial in interpreting results. We estimated persistence and adherence levels to new glucose-lowering drugs (GLDs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients using different methods: through the collection of pharmacy records and combining pharmacy records with self-reported data.MethodsWe conducted a prospective observational cohort study of T2DM patients initiating a new GLD. Data were collected at baseline through interviews (demographic and clinical data). Follow-up data included pharmacy records (refill dates and medication possession) and telephone questionnaires (self-declared monitored GLD refill in another pharmacy, reasons for drug withdrawal). The cohort was divided into incident and prevalent new users. Persistence and adherence (proportion of days covered) were estimated for patients using pharmacy records exclusively (Method 1) and ≥1 self-declared statement of being persistent (Method 2). Log-rank tests were used to compare Kaplan–Meier curves of time to nonpersistence.ResultsA total of 1,328 patients were recruited. When considering Method 1, 38.7% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 36.0–41.5) of patients were persistent, whereas combining with self-reported information, this estimate increased to 65.6% (95% CI: 62.9–68.2). Using Method 1, the risk of persistence failure was associated with using an oral GLD, living alone and living in a suburban/urban setting. Three hundred and twenty-seven (24.8%) patients stopped to use the inception GLD.ConclusionRegardless of the method used, results indicated low levels of persistence and adherence to a new GLD; however, when combining self-reported information, higher estimates were obtained. Considering pharmacy records exclusively, prevalent new users, who were more complex patients in terms of T2DM disease but more likely to be pharmacy-loyal patients, were significantly more adherent than the incident new users. Barriers and reasons leading to GLD withdrawal, namely adverse drug event management, should be addressed, since they represent half of the reasons for treatment switching or discontinuation.

Campos Costa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0., which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.