Patient counselling service with the use of pictograms as the example of pharmacist intervention to improving compliance and medicine safety

Abstract

Background: Pharmaceutical pictograms have been designed to help communicate medication instructions to patients. Pictograms used within a patient counseling service can significantly improve medication compliance and adherence. The study aimed to assess the improvement of adherence to therapy with the use of pictogram intervention in comparison to standard pharmacy practice in community pharmacies. Methods: Pictograms informing about the proper way of using metoprolol prolonged release tablets were designed to be used on the packages of the drug in community pharmacies. Pharmacies belonging to a pharmacy practice-based research network were randomly assigned to a group using pictograms when dispensing the drug or one following their normal practice. At the first visit, all patients answered a structured questionnaire about their medication behavior in the preceding 7 days. The same questions were asked 4 weeks later to follow-up treatment adherence change and compare studied groups. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data, and the McNemar test was used to compare categorical data at baseline and follow-up. Results: Of a total of 253 patients screened, 117 and 104 patients completed the study in the standard practice and pictogram groups, respectively. The use of pictograms significantly improved medication adherence in the following areas: not omitting doses (p < 0.0001), not crushing tablets (p = 0.004), number of tablets/day (p = 0.49), and time of use (p = 0.001), compared to the standard practice group. Conclusions: Our results suggest that pictograms are effective in conveying messages about the proper way of using medications, and they increase treatment adherence, in comparison to standard dispensing practice.

Evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and perception of pictograms in improving understanding of foreign medicine packages and leaflets among Malaysians

“…This study demonstrated that pictogram interventions reduced dosing errors among mothers with poor health literacy when administering liquid medication to children by approximately 48 to 54% and improved the mothers' understanding of dosing (Chan et al, 2015;Patidar et al, 2021). Therefore, pictograms are being utilized in patient counselling within pharmacy settings to enhance compliance and medication safety (Merks et al, 2021;Vaillancourt et al, 2019). Overall, the present results revealed that the majority of the respondents agreed that pictograms should be used in medication packages and leaflets.…”

Enhancing Patient Adherence to Newly-Prescribed Medicine for Chronic Diseases: A Comprehensive Review and Cost-Effective Approach to Implementing the New Medicine Service in Community Pharmacies in Poland

“…Numerous studies have shown that pharmacists are willing to extend their services to play a greater role in public health. The NMS has been also implemented in Poland [ 33 , 34 ], where this service was a part of the project “Closer to the Patient”. The findings demonstrated that the use of pharmaceutical intervention in the study group translated into improved adherence to medical instructions regarding correct pharmacotherapy [ 35 ]…”

Satisfaction of people at post-working age with pharmacists’ health promotion in Poland

“…Pictograms could help patients to adhere to medical advice and reduce the potential risks or errors associated with the misuse of medications. Merks et al [ 19 ] demonstrated that pictograms significantly helped patients not to omit doses, not to crush tablets, to use a proper number of tablets per day and to use tablets at the proper time. Health behaviors contribute to the development of good habits throughout the patient’s life.…”