Assessment of Medication Adherence Pattern for Patients with Chronic Diseases in South Indian Hospitals

There is a need for specialized medication education programs for rural patients because of the limited health-care services and low literacy level. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the pattern of medication knowledge of hypertensive patients living in rural area with they are consultation in various South Indian district and Primary Health Care hospitals and to assess the impact of pharmacist provided education sessions on their medication knowledge status. A total of 1500 rural hypertensive patients were randomized into control and intervention group. Intervention group patients were educated regarding their medications, whereas control group patients did not receive any education by the study pharmacist during initial stage, 150th, 300th, and 450th day. Medication knowledge was assessed by administering medication knowledge assessment questionnaire, which was administered to control and intervention groups during the follow-up visits and 80 days after the last follow-up (530th day). At starting point, there was no statistically significant (P > 0.05) variance in the medication knowledge scores of the intervention and control groups. After the pharmacist provided education sessions, there was an improvement in the medication knowledge assessment scores of intervention group patients were observed with reference to recall of medication name, dose, indication, side effects, duration of treatment, usefulness, effectiveness, and missed medicines (P < 0.05). Demographic variables such as female gender, lower education, and income were the determinants of lower medication knowledge. Pharmacist-provided education sessions contributed in enhancing the medication knowledge of the intervention group patients. Our study findings warrant the necessity of educating the rural patients with chronic disease conditions to improve the knowledge regarding their medications.