Medication therapy management (MTM): an innovative approach to improve medication adherence in diabetics.

BACKGROUND: Medication therapy management (MTM) is a pharmacist-led professional service, one of the main aims of which is to improve patient medication adherence. Ensuring adequate adherence to the prescribed therapeutic regimen is one of the major challenges in attaining the desired therapeutic goals in diabetics. The objective of this study was to implement MTM in diabetic patients and to identify its effectiveness in improving patient medication adherence. METHODS: A prospective interventional study was carried out within a 1-year period in KIMS-Al-Shifa Hospital, which is a tertiary care referral hospital in Malabar region of Kerala, including inpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the general medicine department of the hospital. The MTM programme was applied in selected patients, including personal medication record, medication-related action plan and detailed counselling. Adherence was measured using the Modified Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-4 both before and after the programme. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients were included in the study. The adherence of patients to anti-diabetic therapy was very low, which showed significant improvement after applying intervention (p-value<0.05 in a paired t-test). Initially, only 37.5% had high adherence which was increased to 59.5% after intervention. Age and educational status were identified to have a significant impact on patient medication adherence (p-value<0.05 in a χ2-test). CONCLUSIONS: Medication adherence is a key component of self-management for patients with diabetes. A pharmacist-led MTM programme if appropriately designed and implemented will have a potential positive impact on medication adherence in diabetic patients.

Implications of traditional medicine in the treatment of Hepatitis A in Kerala.

INTRODUCTION: The recent outbreaks of Hepatitis A in Kerala are suggestive of decrease in endemicity as most adults were not exposed during the childhood. In allopathic system of medicine, there is no established treatment for Hepatitis A and hence most people tend to rely on the alternate systems of medicine. The study was aimed at identifying the burden of Hepatitis A in the locality and to uncover the degree of dependence of the people on traditional systems of medicine. METHODS: The study spanned over 7 months and was conducted in Malappuram district of Kerala. A simple questionnaire having closed-ended questions was prepared and circulated among the physicians in the area. Demographic and other relevant details were obtained from the patients and the medicine system relied on was scrutinized. RESULTS: Of the 348 patients enrolled, majority of the patients were between the age of 10-30 years. The study revealed that females were more affected than males. Similarly people in rural areas were greater than those from urban areas. Most patients (73.28%) relied on Ayurvedic treatment after one week of onset of symptoms. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The preparations such as triphala which has great efficacy in treatment has to be further studied to establish the pathways and mechanism through which it acts. A collaborative effort between government, modern medicine and alternate medicine system can be highly effective in reducing the outbreaks of such epidemics through proper preventive and therapeutic strategies.