A pragmatically before-after trial of tele-visits vs face-to-face visits for chronic patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: patient-reported adherence.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic patients are at a higher risk of contamination with the virus. Specific strategies are required to restrict these patients' exposure to contaminated areas and improve medication adherence. One suggested strategy is tele-visiting, which is effective for the continuity of care and medication adherence during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to explore the effect of tele-visiting services via telephone on chronic patients' medication adherence before and after implementing a tele-visit program during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: All patients received the tele-visit twice on the phone during the study. To compare patients' medication adherence in face-to-face visits and tele-visit, an adapted version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 was used. Paired-samples T-test was run to measure participants' medication adherence before and after the tele-visit program. RESULTS: The tele-visit was run for 314 patients. The participants' adherence score before the intervention was 60.02, and after the intervention was 59.9. As the paired-sample T-test results showed, the difference between these two was not statistically significant. Moreover, medication adherence was not significantly associated with any of these variables BMI, occupation, comorbidities, duration of disease, age, gender, marital status, and education level. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings showed that chronic patients' medication adherence did not differ significantly in face-to-face visits and tele-visiting. During the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the effectiveness of tele-visiting services, they can be used effectively to lower the transmission rate of the disease and reduce healthcare providers' burden.