The use of an electronic medication organizer device with alarm to improve medication adherence of older adults with hypertension

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether the use of a monthly electronic medication organizer device equipped with an alarm clock, called Electronic System for Personal and Controlled Use of Medications (Supermed), improves medication adherence of older adults with hypertension. Methods: This is a quali-quantitative, prospective, before-and-after study performed with 32 older adult patients with diagnosis of hypertension, who were recruited at a Primary Care Unit in Brazil. Results: The main outcome measures were improvement of medication adherence and blood pressure control after intervention with Supermed. Regarding medication adherence, 81.2% of patients were "less adherent" in the pre-intervention period, and 96.9% were "more adherent" in the post-intervention period. This means that 78.1% of patients changed from "less adherent" to "more adherent" after the intervention with Supermed (p<0.001). The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure differences between intervention day and post-intervention were 18.5mmHg (p<0.0001) and 4.3mmHg (p<0.007), respectively, and the differences between mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure between pre-intervention and post-intervention were 21.6mmHg (p<0.001) and 4.7mmHg (p<0.001) respectively. Conclusion: The use of Supermed significantly improved self-reported medication adherence and blood pressure control in a hypertensive older adult population.

Effect of Pillbox Organizers with Alarms on Adherence to Pharmacotherapy in Parkinson Disease Patients Taking Three and More Daily Doses of Dopaminergic Medications

“…To improve the rate of adherence, adequate communication with patients and their caregivers is essential. The use of dosing devices (such as pillbox organizers with alarms) did not yield consistent results in previous research in chronic disorders [12][13][14]. However, they may have the potential to improve adherence to pharmacotherapy in patients with PD [15].…”

Domestic risks: environmental analyses carried out with elderly people and primary health care nurses

“…O dispositivo se chama "Supermed" e é considerado uma excelente estratégia para elevar a adesão das pessoas idosas que, ocasionalmente, não tomam os remédios de forma correta por alguma limitação funcional, dificuldade de separação do medicamento, bem como a questão do esquecimento. (24) Com efeito, na perspectiva da segunda dimensão analisada, que versa sobre os riscos biológicos, identificou-se de um lado conteúdos relacionados à senilidade; de outro, conteúdos relacionados à senescência. Sobre as principais doenças retratadas pelas pessoas idosas têm-se: Diabetes, Parkinson e HAS.…”

Adherence to Antihypertensive Therapy and Its Determinants: A Systematic Review

“…1 . Overall, we included 21 cross-sectional studies [22][23][24]28,[30][31][32]35,36,40,41,45,47,48,[50][51][52]56,57,62,64], 19 cohort studies [21,26,27,29,33,34,[37][38][39][42][43][44]49,[53][54][55]58,60,65], four RCTs [25,46,59,61], and one quasi-experimental study [63]. The total number of patients included for analysis was Quality of evidence and risk of bias assessment revealed that most studies included had low to moderate risk of bias (see appendices).…”

“…Application of telemedicine tools in a literacy-sensitive and motivational coaching program, with monthly telephone encounters with rural patients, improved medication adherence over time and demonstrated effective drops in systolic and diastolic BP, predominantly in the low adherence group at the baseline compared to the higher adherence groups in a cohort study with low risk of bias [65]. One quasiexperimental study used an electronic medication organizer equipped with an alarm clock to help adults organize and remind the daily intake of their medicines (especially for those not familiar with modern technology such as mobile phone apps) and gave healthcare professionals access to patient's reported adherence by the device [63]. In this study, the authors observed a significant change in adherence patterns (from less to moderate adherence) and a drop in the mean SBP and DBP of 18.5 mmHg and 4.3 mmHg, respectively; however, these results must be interpreted carefully since the study seems to carry a moderate risk of bias.…”

“…rural areas 1 [27] 1 [51] 1 [52] Country income level 1 [45] 1 [45] Healthcare system/team Healthcare provider visits 3 [34,48,57] 2 [32,58] 1 [33] Specialized healthcare use 2 [37,49] 1 [44] 2 [23,24] Satisfaction with communication 1 [26] Patient-provider relationship 2 [26,33] 1 [54] Health insurance 1 [60] 1 [60] 1 [44] Access to healthcare 1 [27] 1 [35] eHealth/mHealth 5 [25,46,61,63,65] Comorbidities 3 [27,39,49] 4 [21,27,49,57] 6 [24,45,48,51,52,56] Having diabetes 3 [34,47,49] 3 [54,58,60] 5…”