“Could the app be tailor-made?” Patients and healthcare providers give feedback on a prototype intervention to support patients with high blood pressure to take medication. The idea of the intervention is to help patients take their medication as prescribed and so help manage their blood pressure better. The intervention is a brief five minute discussion […]
A randomised clinical trial finds a behavioural intervention feasible and potentially effective at supporting biochemically validated adherence to anti-hypertensive medications and at lowering blood pressure in primary care
In this blog, Dr Katerina Kassavou reports that more patients with high blood pressure took their medications as prescribed and experienced lower blood pressure after participating in a behavioural intervention in primary care called the Programme on Adherence to Medication, compared with patients who had normal care. In the UK around a third of adults […]
Combination of text messages and voice messages can help patients to take their medicine
Digital interventions are effective in helping patients in primary care take the medicines they have been prescribed, according to the first UK study of whether highly tailored text and voice messages are useful as a tool to improve medication adherence. The new study, called Medication Adherence for Patient’s Support, or MAPS, proves the importance of […]
One in ten stroke survivors need more help with taking medication
Over a half of stroke patients require a degree of help with taking medicine and a sizeable minority say they do not receive as much assistance as they need, according a study published today in the journal BMJ Open. Because of the risk of a second stroke, it’s important that stroke survivors take their medication, […]
Tailored messages almost double the odds of medication adherence
Automated telephone and text messaging interventions almost double the odds of adherence to medication when compared to usual care, according to a systematic review of research studies, published today by Dr Kassavou and Professor Sutton. The review set out to assess how well automated telecommunications (including voice messages and text messages) can support medication adherence. […]
Patients who need to take medicine every day find tailored telephone messages helpful
Tailored voice messages in automated phone calls to patients could successfully prompt patients to take medicines as prescribed, according to a study of patients and nurses working in GP surgeries, published as ‘Reasons for non-adherence to cardiometabolic medications, and acceptability of an interactive voice response intervention in patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes in […]